Carly Rae Jepsen, Our Canadian Pop Princess

Carly Rae Jepsen is so much more than her hit single "Call Me Maybe." I'm partial to her because we are birthday twins, despite being ten years apart. I'm also partial to her because she is one of the greatest female pop stars and is still, despite her radio success, a severely underrated artist. I'm making a case for CRJ right here, right now. None of us were prepared when she hit the scene on Canadian Idol in 2007 and kick-started her career in music after that.

We all know CRJ because of "Call Me Maybe" and "Good Time" which is truly unfortunate because as much as "Call Me Maybe" is the ultimate 2000s bop, CRJ is so much more than that. Her 2015 album Emotion was slept on. The Canadian Pop Princess, Queen of Absolutely Everything (seriously, one of the greatest internet memes is calling CRJ the queen of whatever she's doing. It's hilarious and accurate) deserved better from us! She even kindly gifted us a B-side album of songs that didn't make Emotion and THOSE WERE SLEPT ON TOO.

That's why I'm here. I'm just a girl, standing in front of a–well I mean, I am technically laying down in bed because getting up doesn't seem like a fun idea–a group of people asking them to love Carly Rae Jepsen.

There's something hypnotic about CRJ's 80's influenced music. Trust me, I know it's hard to love pop music at times. I went through a four-year long phase where I refused to listen to the radio. I've also learned that when it comes to pop music, it's best to stop resisting it. The songs are catchy AF for a reason. There's a formula! And CRJ follows that formula and makes it her own and I love her for every single thing she does. I mean, she blessed us with songs like "Run Away With Me" (which she is listed as the lead writer on, as she is for a good majority of her songs), "Higher," "Roses," and her newest single "Cut to the Feeling," which changed the course of my summer.

I saw an article once that described Jepsen as something along the lines of "genuinely normal" and I find that a great description in the nicest way possible. There's something so relatable about her personality, her style, the songs that she sings. They're not overly complicated, they're just some damn good pop songs right at the surface. There's no playing around, no hidden meanings, and quite frankly, no bullsh!t.

In the middle of writing this, I fell into a deep twenty-minute long trance listening to her discography on shuffle and I highly recommend doing the same. There is no better way to start your morning or add some excitement to your afternoon or start a dance party in the evening. There is no wrong time to listen to Carly Rae Jepsen, just as it's not too late to fall madly in love with her music. There is still time!