Emotion (album)

## **Emotion***Third studio album*

* Standard (EU • JPN)
* Deluxe (EU • JPN)
* Standard (US)
* Deluxe (US)
* Deluxe Expanded Edition

## Singles

1. I Really Like You
Released: March 2nd 2015
2. Run Away With Me
Released: July 17th 2015
3. Your Type
Released: November 8th 2015

**Emotion** (stylised as *E•MO•TION*) is the third studio album from Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen. It was first released on June 24th 2015 in Japan through Interscope Records.

The album serves as a follow-up to her previous project, Kiss (2012), and received a collection of B-Sides in the form of the Emotion Side B a year later in 2016.

## **Background**

Following the worldwide success of Call Me Maybe, and the subsequent decline in commercial success Kiss saw afterwards, Jepsen viewed her next album project as an opportunity to retract from the spotlight and explore different creative directions to take her music in. She sought to veer away from her previous bubblegum pop-oriented nature and instead found inspiration in 1980s music and indie/alternative stylings.

Due to her dissatisfaction with the strict two month deadline for Kiss, and the lack of creative freedom she experienced when writing it, Jepsen made the decision to take an extended hiatus after the end of The Summer Kiss Tour and take her time in developing her next album project. Across the entire development of Emotion, Jepsen would write over 200 songs between 2012 and 2015 and scrap two additional albums in the process.

## **Additional scrapped projects**

#### **Original pure-pop album project**

Jepsen would immediately begin writing new material after the release of Kiss in September 2012, though the first iteration of her third studio album would only begin to take shape across 2013 in Los Angeles, originally seeing its inception as a series of early demos written on the back of her tour bus.

The original sonic direction of the album was described as being "pure-pop" by Carly, and likened to that of Kiss; this was a sound she ultimately wasn't satisfied with perusing, and would make the decision to scrap the project entirely.

Sometime after, whilst in Japan in August 2013, Jepsen attended Cyndi Lauper's gig at the Summer Sonic festival in Osaka, and would be met with the inspiration to explore 80s soundscapes instead; "I was listening to the songs and something kind of hit me, like this is when pop was at its finest - it’s like the purest, emotional ‘80s and I want to make an album that hints at that because the songs are so timeless," she explained.

#### **Cinderella, indie-folk album, and Emotion**

Towards the end of 2013, Jepsen was approached by the producers of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and was asked to audition for the lead role, receiving the offer after auditioning in Los Angeles and passing callbacks in New York. For twelve weeks between February and June 2014, Jepsen assumed the role of Cinderella, marking her broadway debut.

During this time, Jepsen would continue writing new music between rehearsals and performances, exploring '80s pop soundscapes, drawing inspiration from Prince and Madonna records, and beginning an additional album project in the form of a scrapped indie-folk album. Born from a 'natural rebellion' in following-up Call Me Maybe, Carly states she thought the indie-folk project too left-of-centre, describing it as "really weird music" and ultimately wasn't comfortable in releasing it, deciding to shelve the album.

During the development of indie-folk album, in April 2014, the Emotion title-track would begin to "take shape" in New York and lead to Jepsen having a breakthrough moment in deciding the direction of the project - in her own words, "80s pop with alternative productions." She explained, "[Emotion] felt like one of the first songs on the album that really struck a chord for me, and for the direction of how everything was going to go in this ’80s emotional pop kind of way."

A song titled Eternal Summer would also be written whilst Jepsen was in New York, and was considered as the album's working title during development, though the idea was shelved. Album track All That would also be developed around this time, with Jepsen reaching out to cowriter of the song Dev Hynes after hearing his production on Solange's 2012 single Losing You. Although Hynes was initially sceptical of Jepsen's enthusiasm, he was immediately won over by her ability and work ethic, and together, the pair workshopped the original demo of the song between Carly's Cinderella performances.

## **Writing and development**

With the direction of the album now set into place, Emotion would be developed over the course of a year between June 2014 and February 2015. After the end of her Cinderella run, Jepsen returned to Los Angeles to work on the project and sought out producers and songwriters to collaborate with, including the likes of Rostam, who co-penned Warm Blood, and Ariel Rechtshaid, who made contributions towards All That and When I Needed You.

Sometime in 2014, at the request of her record label, Jepsen would spend a month in Sweden writing new music. These sessions would materialise songs like I Really Like You, written with Peter Svensson; Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk-produced Your Type, and the album's opening track Run Away With Me, co-written with duo Mattman and Robin. The pair would also contribute Favourite Colour and Gimmie Love to the album, the latter of which was finished in a single day in a studio session in Los Angeles.

Boy Problems, originally being written during the development of the pure-pop album, was developed into its final iteration alongside songwriter Sia Furler and producer Greg Kurstin in late 2013. Furler would also contribute her own outside cut to the album, Making the Most of the Night, an original song she had written alongside the members of HAIM.

Carly would continue working on the album up until the deadline in early 2015. The final song of the record to be completed was Let's Get Lost, just a day prior to the deadline, at the suggestion of Dev Hynes and Ariel Rechtshaid. LA Hallucinations was also added to the album at the last minute, and Gimmie Love was the "third-to-last" song to be finished.

#### **Deciding on the album's title**

When the time came to decide on a name for the album, Jepsen's A&R executive mentioned the song Emotion as a potential title. Carly thought the title had strength behind it due to being just a single word, and enjoyed it as a concept - "It's this universal thing that we all share, but it's so complex because it's never exactly the same." After seeing the phonetic spelling of the word, Jepsen states she was immediately sold on the idea.

It's stated that Emotion had multiple working titles during its development - one of which was Eternal Summer, a name inspired by Los Angeles, a literal "eternal summer in sunshine" where you "lose track of time and perspective;" Carly explained how she thought the idea was interesting as an album title. According to rumoured information, Wildflowers was also considered as one of the album's original working titles.

## **Announcement and release**

Alongside the release of I Really Like You in March 2015, it was first reported that Jepsen's then-upcoming third studio album would be released that summer. Emotion was officially announced on April 10th 2015, with the track list being unveiled on June 2nd 2015.

Emotion was first released in Japan on June 24th 2015 in both its standard and deluxe editions, receiving two additional bonus tracks. The album was released in the United States and most territories two months later on August 21st, before lastly being released in Europe on September 18th.

Emotion would also receive an additional remix album, titled Emotion Remixed +, exclusively in Japan on March 18th 2016, featuring two new tracks First Time and Fever prior to their inclusion on Emotion Side B.

For its fifth year anniversary, Emotion was reissued as Emotion (Deluxe Expanded Edition) on August 21st 2020 and featured the two additional bonus tracks, previously exclusive to the Target and Japanese deluxe editions, available worldwide for the first time.

## **Singles**

#### **I Really Like You**

The album's lead single, I Really Like You, was released on March 2nd 2015 through 604, School Boy, and Interscope Records as the first single from the record.

#### **Run Away With Me**

The second single, Run Away With Me, was officially released on July 17th, 2015. The track was first debuted on Spanish radio station Hits FM a month earlier on June 17th, 2015 alongside Your Type.

#### **Promotional singles**

Emotion would also see a large number of buzz singles released between April and August 2015 during the album's promotional cycle. The first of which, All That, was released on April 5th, 2015, followed by Warm Blood on July 31st, Making the Most of the Night on August 7th, 2015, and Your Type on August 14th, 2015.

#### **Your Type**

Whilst the song initially only served as a promotional single, Your Type would be rereleased as the album's third and final official single on November 9th, 2015.

## **Gallery**

* *§ Visit the Emotion gallery: Gallery*
* *§ Visit the Emotion photoshoot gallery: Photoshoot Gallery*

#### **Album covers**

Emotion • USEmotion • EU / JPNDeluxe / Target Edition • USDeluxe • EU / JPNDeluxe Expanded Edition

#### **Single covers**

I Really Like YouAll ThatRun Away With MeMaking the Most of the NightYour Type

## **Album credits**

Credits per the liner notes of *Emotion*.

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Mattias Larsson • Robin Frederiksson • Shellback • Oscar Holter • Jonnali Parmenius • Nate Campany • Ben Romans • Christopher J Baran • Jacob Kasher Hindlin • Peter Svensson • Devonté Hynes • Ariel Rechtshaid • Sia Furler • Greg Kurstin • Tavish Crowe • Samuel Dixon • Emre Ramazanoglu • The Trinity • Rami Yacoub • Carl Falk • Wayne Hector • Zachary Gray • Ajay Bhattacharyya • Rostam Batmanglij • Tino Zolfo • Joe Cruz • Daniel Nigro • Greg Wells • E. Kidd Bogart • Lukas Loules • Wouter Janssen • Kyle Shearer

* **Produced by:** Mattman & Robin • Shellback • CJ Baran • Ben Romans • Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Ariel Rechtshaid • Devonté Hynes • Greg Kurstin • The High Street • Carl Falk • Rami Yacoub • Rostam Batmanglij • Daniel Nigro • Greg Wells • LULOU • Wouter Janssen • Kyle Shearer

#### **Performance**

* **Vocals:** Carly Rae Jepsen
* **Backing Vocals:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Mattman & Robin • Noonie Bao • Sibel Redzep • Oscar Holter • Ludvig Söderberg • Jakob Jerlström • Oscar Görres • Missy Modell • Marlene Strand • Katerina Loules
* **Bass:** Mattman & Robin • Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Ethan Farmer • Greg Kurstin • Samuel Dixon • Rami Yacoub • Zachary Gray
* **Drums:** Mattman & Robin • Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Greg Kurstin • Emre Ramazanoglu • Greg Wells
* **Percussion:** Mattman & Robin • Ariel Rechtshaid • Emre Ramazanoglu
* **Guitars:** Mattman & Robin • Peter Svensson • Devonté Hynes • Greg Kurstin • Samuel Dixon • Carl Falk • Daniel Nigro
* **Keyboards:** Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Tommy King • Greg Kurstin • Rostam Batmanglij • Ariel Rechtshaid
* **Piano:** Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Tommy King • Rostam Batmanglij
* **Synthesisers:** Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Ariel Rechtshaid • Roger Manning • Samuel Dixon • Emre Ramazanoglu • Ajay Bhattacharyya • Zachary Gray • Ariel Rechtshaid • Greg Wells • Mattman & Robin
* **Vocoder:** Mattman & Robin
* **Saxophone:** Wojtek Goral
* **Solina:** Peter Carlsson
* **Violin:** Svante Halldin
* **Instrumentation:** CJ Baran • Ben Romans • Carl Falk • Rami Yacoub • Lukas Loules • Wouter Janssen

#### **Technical**

* **Mixing:** Serban Ghenea • Robert Orton • Manny Marroquin • Chris Galland • Ike Schultz • Erik Madrid • Vincent Vu • Rich Costey • Mario Borgatta • Erik Madrid • LULOU • Mitch McCarthy

* **Mastering:** Tom Coyne • Gene Grimaldi • Robert Vosgien

* **Engineering:** John Hanes • Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Juan Carlos Torrado • Eric Eylands • Jaime Velez • Scott Moore • Randy Urbanski • Micky Evelyn • John DeBold • Greg Kurstin • Alex Pasco • Julian Burg • Josh Gudwin • Henrique Andrade • Zachary Gray • Ajay Bhattacharyya • Martin Cooke • Nicolas Fournier • Rostam Batmanglij • Shane Stoneback • Chris Kasych • Ariel Rechtshaid • Laura Sisk • Lukas Loules • Matt Schaeffer • Kyle Gaffney • Noah Passovoy • Will Sandalls

* **Arrangement:**

* **Programming:** Mattman & Robin • CJ Baran • Ben Romans • Peter Svensson • Jeff Halatrax • Ariel Rechtshaid • Devonté Hynes • Samuel Dixon • Emre Ramazanoglu • Ajay Bhattacharyya • Rostam Batmanglij • Ariel Rechtshaid • Daniel Nigro • Greg Wells

#### **Overview credits**

* **Executive Producer:** Scooter Braun • Justin Bieber

* **A&R:** John Ehmann • Scooter Braun • Olivia Zaro • David Gray • Evan Lamberg • Katherine Neis

* **Management:** Scooter Braun • Laura Hess • Allison Kaye • Steve Kopee

* **Marketing:** Brad Haugen • Laura Hess • Dyana Kass • Greg Carr

* **Publicity:** Lisa DiAngelo

* **Musical director:**

* **Creative director:** Brad Haugen • Cori Weber

* **Art director:** Jessica Severn

* **Legal representation:** Kenny Meiselas • Pamela Gurley

#### **Album cover credits**

* **Album cover design by:** Jessica Severn

* **Album cover photography:** Matthew Welch

* **Styling:** Karla Welch

## **Navigation**

* Discography
* Emotion

**The Loveliest Time** • *2023***The Loneliest Time** • *2022***Dedicated
Side B** • *2020***Dedicated**
*2019***Emotion
Side B** • *2016*****Emotion****
*2015***Kiss**
*2012***Curiosity**
*2012***Tug of War**
*2008*