Kiss
Twenty-six-year-old Carly Rae Jepsen‘s “Call Me Maybe” is weapons-grade teen pop; after global warming kills us all, insects will still be doing karaoke routines to it. On her second LP (she released a singer-songwriter-y debut after placing third on Canadian Idol in 2008), Jepsen breathily body-slams pillow-clutching choruses from the likes of Max Martin and LMFAO’s Redfoo. Justin Bieber even floats by for the acoustic dote “Beautiful,” playing James Taylor to Carly’s Carole King. But Kiss too often defaults to mediocre dance pop like the Owl City collaboration “Good Time” – heavy on Disney-fied thump, light on memorable hooks that might highlight her unassuming adorableness.
Listen to ‘Kiss’: