Carly Rae Jepsen has always been exceptionally good at turning big feelings into irresistible pop songs. On “Motivation,” her latest single from the upcoming double album Day and Night, she goes somewhere a little more personal: home. Released today via Interscope Records, “Motivation” is one of the more reflective moments from Jepsen’s ambitious 24-track project, due September 18. The song comes from the album’s “night” half, and while it is built for movement, its subject is surprisingly intimate.
Watch “Motivation”
Jepsen co-wrote the song with Cole M.G.N., who produced it alongside Kyle Shearer. They give the track a sleek, expansive sound that lets the emotional subject matter breathe without sacrificing the pop rush. That contrast is what makes “Motivation” particularly effective. It’s a song about working through complicated feelings, but it never sounds weighed down by them. Instead, it sounds liberated. “Motivation” has affection, but it isn’t uncomplicated. Jepsen describes it as a way of making peace with the passionate, high-expectation dynamic of her family. Rather than trying to resolve those tensions neatly, the song acknowledges them. That honesty gives the track some emotional weight beneath all its glitter.
That range seems fitting for an artist who has spent the last decade and a half refusing to be boxed into the version of Carly Rae Jepsen created by “Call Me Maybe.” She’s still capable of delivering an enormous pop hook, but albums like E•MO•TION, Dedicated, The Loneliest Time, and sometimes, apparently, it means putting that complicated family history on a house beat and dancing until it makes a little more sense.
Day and Night arrives September 18 via Interscope Records.
Photo Credit: Nicole Ditt
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