Comeback

## **Comeback***Dedicated Side B*

**Comeback** (feat. Bleachers) is the tenth track on Dedicated Side B (2020) by Carly Rae Jepsen. It was released on May 21st 2020 through 604, School Boy and Interscope Records.

Jepsen first premiered the song at the Ally Coalition Talent Show on December 13th 2019, alongside Jack Antonoff.

## **Lyrics**

* Album version
* Ally Coalition version
* Demo version

**Verse 1**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I'm at a war with myself

We go back to my place

Take my makeup off

Show you my best disguise

You believe in my heart

You believe in my kind

It's a tragedy, boy

Every time you ask me

**Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Verse 2**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

I'm at peace in the dark

When I know that you're near

Hear the breath of your heart

Singing me a lullaby

All those traveling years

'Til we said our goodbye

And I show up to your place

You don't even ask me why

**Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Bridge**: Carly Rae Jepsen

And if you wanna know why I have no regrets

Sometimes, you gotta dig low to get 'round to it

And there is nothing I'm so sure of, nothing I'm so sure of

If you wanna know why I have no regrets

**Verse 3**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

Well, then you'll come with me

I'm the keeper of that beat

And the fire under your feet

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

Come, baby

Dance the night down on your knees

Dance your heart down onto your sleeve

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

And I am the keeper

**Pre-Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking about making a comeback, back to me

**Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking that maybe you'll come back, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking that maybe you'll come back, come back to me

**Outro**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

Come with me

I'm the keeper of that beat

And the fire under your feet

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

Come, baby

Dance the night down on your knees

Dance your heart down onto your sleeve

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

**Verse 1**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I'm at a war with myself

We go back to my place

Take my makeup off

Show you my best disguise

You believe in my heart

You believe in my kind

It's a tragedy, boy

Every time you ask me

**Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Verse 2**: Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers

I'm at peace in the dark

When I know that you're near

Hear the breath of your heart

Singing me a lullaby

All those traveling years

'Til we said our goodbye

And I show up to your place

You don't even ask me why

**Chorus**: Carly Rae Jepsen

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Bridge**: Carly Rae Jepsen

And if you wanna know why I have no regrets

Sometimes, you gotta dig low to get 'round to it

And there is nothing I'm so sure of, nothing I'm so sure of

If you wanna know why I have no regrets

**Outro**

I believe

I was thinking about making a comeback, back to me

**Verse 1**
I'm at a war with myself

We go back to my place

Take my makeup off

Show you my best disguise

You believe in my heart

You believe in my kind

It's a tragedy, boy

Every time you ask me

**Chorus**
I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Verse 2**

I'm at peace in the dark

When I know that you're near

Hear the breath of your heart

Singing me a lullaby

All those traveling years

'Til we said our goodbye

And I show up to your place

You don't even ask me why

**Chorus**

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking 'bout making a comeback, back to me

**Bridge**

And if you wanna know why I have no regrets

Sometimes, you gotta dig low to get 'round to it

And there is nothing I'm so sure of, nothing I'm so sure of

If you wanna know why I have no regrets

**Verse 3**

Well then, come with me

I'm the keeper of that beat

And the fire under your feet

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

Come, baby

Dance the night down on your knees

Dance your heart down onto your sleeve

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

And I am the keeper

**Pre-Chorus**

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking about making a comeback, back to me

**Chorus**

I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe

I was thinking that maybe you'll come back, back to me

And I won't say you're the reason I was on my knees

But I'm thinking that maybe you'll come back, come back to me

**Outro**

Come with me

I'm the keeper of that beat

And the fire under your feet

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

Come, baby

Dance the night down on your knees

Dance your heart down onto your sleeve

I'm the keeper, man, I am the keeper

## **Song credits**

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Jared Manierka • Jack Antonoff
* **Produced by:** Jack Antonoff

#### **Instrumentation**

* **Keyboards:** Jack Antonoff
* **Drums:** Jack Antonoff

#### **Additional credits**

* **Mastering:** Gene Grimaldi
* **Mixing:** Mitch McCarthy
* **Programming:** Jack Antonoff
* **Recorded by:** Laura Sisk • Jack Antonoff
* **Engineering assistance:** Jon Sher • John Rooney • Greg Eliason • Brian Cruz
* **Background vocals:** Bleachers (Jack Antonoff)

#### **Studio info**

* **Recorded at:** Conway & Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) • Electric Lady (New York, NY)
* **Mixed at:** SOTA Studios (Arts District, Los Angeles)
* **Mastered at:** Oasis Mastering (Burbank, CA)

#### **Publishing info**

* **Published by:** Universal Music Corp Jepsen Music Publishing (ASCAP) • Sony/ATV Songs LLC / Ducky Donath Music (BMI) • Jared Manierka (SOCAN)

## **Writing and development**

Comeback was written between 2017 and 2018 by Carly Rae Jepsen, with Jared Manierka and Jack Antonoff, during the development of Dedicated. Though the song failed to make the cut for the album, it would instead be released as part of Dedicated Side B.

#### **Conceptualisation with Jared Manierka**

Jepsen states that Comeback was written in a "melancholy" time in her life, and had began as a perspective on a breakup. The song was initially written in April 2017 alongside Jared Manierka, who came to visit Jepsen at her home in Los Angeles. The pair had decided to have a "couple of days of writing, without overthinking it," which Carly states had become very "journal-like" for her.

#### **Development with Jack Antonoff**

With Manierka, Jepsen wrote the initial lyric concept for the song, and later brought it to Jack Antonoff during a studio session in New York, "Jack's always so great about being open about, if I have like a little nugget of something I want to share, that he can just like develop it to like a whole different place. So when we had sessions in New York later on, I brought that idea to him."

Jepsen states that, although some of the words "weren't quite right," Antonoff had ended up embracing the hook of the song and they worked from the original concept, writing new verses; "We wrote new verses around it and just gave it some new life. And Jack was an incredible... I don't know, he didn't want me to shy away from the melancholy of it. I think sometimes I'm scared to do that, so I really appreciate that he kind of pushed me to go a little deeper."

#### **Dedicated title-track**

A solo demo of Comeback originally featured as a second-part to the unreleased Dedicated title-track, produced by Antonoff. It was recorded on March 17th 2018. Sometime during development, it was decided to separate the two songs, and the title-track was scrapped. At a later date, Antonoff would record vocals for the track as a featured artist.

#### **Rework from Disco Sweat**

Portions of Comeback were reworked from a scrapped 2015 Disco Sweat demo titled I Am The Keeper. The main chorus of the song, "I'm the keeper of that beat / And the fire under your feet (...)" was repurposed into the third verse and bridge of Comeback.

## **Themes and lyricism**

#### **Narrative and storyline**

According to Jepsen, Comeback is a song about "coming back to who you are and what you really care about," when it's easy to feel disconnected due to the fast pace of life. Comeback features an introspective narrative to the song, Carly states, "about a girl coming into her own." She explained this is why Antonoff is featured on the track under his stage name, Bleachers, and in backing vocals only, as it was a bit more subtle in her eyes; "it was less of a duet and more support, and it just made sense for us."

Lyrically, Comeback is written about Jepsen looking back on a past relationship after a breakup has happened. Throughout the song, as it continues, it's meant to show the realisation that it was "less about the breakup and more about realising that I had lost touch with myself in some degrees," Jepsen explained.  This is highlighted in the lyrical change in the chorus, which initially begins as "I was thinking about making a comeback, back to me" and ends up as "I was thinking that maybe you'll come back, back to me" later in the song, reflecting both sides of the song's narrative.

Jepsen elaborated by saying, "I was needing to get back to square one a little bit, but square one doesn’t really ever exist, so it's kind of impossible to do. You always develop as a person, so it’s really just getting really in tune with who you are now and that was what the song was about - remembering what was important to me, remembering the kind friends that are the friends that are the real ones, and this ex actually is a good friend and remained one, and this was one of the songs that kind of helped us get there, I think."

## **Live debut**

Comeback was debuted live alongside Jack Antonoff at the 2019 Ally Coalition Talent Show on December 12th 2019. The version of the song featured a shorter arrangement, cutting out the third verse, extra chorus, and utilising a shorter outro. Additionally, the song was performed using live instrumentation of drums and piano, comparatively less electronic and synth-orientated as the album version.  According to Carly, it was Antonoff who had convinced her to play the song, as at the time it was still unreleased.

## **Alternate versions**

* **Dedicated** / **Comeback** — demo version (2018) - 8:16
	+ Final version of Dedicated, which segues into a solo demo of Comeback.
	+ Leaked online in December 2023

* **Comeback** (feat. Bleachers) (2020) - 3:44
	+ Final version of the song included on Dedicated Side B

## **References**

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Carly Rae Jepsen & Bleachers - "Comeback" (unreleased Dedicated Side B song) (12.12.19) YouTube.com. December 13th 2019.
2. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "Hotel and home studio for the last few days writing with (...) @jaredmanierka" May 1st 2017 - via Instagram
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Wetmore, Brendan Carly Rae Jepsen Breaks Down 'Dedicated: Side B' papermag.com. May 26th 2020.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 'My Carly interview is out! Here's the tea!' March 15th 2020 - via Reddit
5. ↑ BlackoutZone "...additionally the "I'm the keeper of that key" part from Comeback comes from a Disco Sweat track too" atrl.net, May 21st 2020
6. ↑ u/CarlyRaeJepsen\_ '...this is a song about coming back to who you are and what you really care about' July 7th 2020 - via Reddit