'E·MO·TION' by Carly Rae Jepsen: EW review

The expectations following a hit as massive as “Call Me Maybe” could easily have been an albatross around even the sturdiest starlet’s neck. But Jepsen shrugs that weight off on her effervescent follow-up, an ’80s-inflected collection of sweetly breezy dance-pop baubles.

At 29, the Canadian-born singer still operates largely in a Trapper Keeper world of teen longing (see: zero-gravity ditties “Boy Problems” and “I Really Like You”). That innocence suits her lilting, featherlight voice, though; on the shimmering “Gimmie Love,” you can actually picture her waiting for her crush in the food court, dreamily sipping Tab from a crinkle straw and humming the chorus to herself.

A welcome edge slips in on the lush, intoxicating “All That” and throbbing “Warm Blood”—songs created, not coincidentally, with in-demand indie producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Dev Hynes (Solange, Sky Ferreira) and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, respectively. E•MO•TION is the sound of a girl who’s had her career-defining smash; now she just wants to have fun. A–