Dear Julien

## **Dear Julien***Unreleased*

**Dear Julien** was the intended tenth track on Carly Rae Jepsen's unreleased sophomore album Curiosity (2012). As the album was scrapped, the song was never released.

## **Lyrics**

**Intro**

La la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

**Chorus**

Dear Julien, don't make it hard

I wonder, did you read the letter that I sent you?

Oh, oh oh

Why do we have to go

Living in a cave of snow?

I didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart at all

**Verse 1**

Smells like daffodils, feels like winter

Feels like winter

You got through to me delicately, yeah

Just a splinter

But why do we have to go, why do we have to go?

Oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh

**Chorus**

Dear Julien, don't make it hard

I wonder, did you read the letter that I sent you?

Oh, oh oh

Why do we have to go

Living in a cave of snow?

I didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart at all

**Post-Chorus**

La la la la la la la la la la la *(Didn't know I'd be sorry)*

La la la la la la la la la la la

**Verse 2**

Looks like love but it feels like lying

Feels like lying

You got through to me, definitely

No denying

But why do we have to go, why do we have to go?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh

Why do we have to go

Living in a cave of snow?

**Chorus**

Dear Julien, don't make it hard

I wonder, did you read the letter that I sent you?

Oh, oh oh

Why do we have to go?

Living in a cave of snow

I didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart

Didn't have a heart at all

**Post-Chorus**

Didn't know I'd be sorry

**Bridge**

One more day and I'll be sorry

Two more days then you'll be sorry

Three more days and we'll be sorry

I'm really, really sorry

One more day and I'll be sorry

Two more days then you'll be sorry

Three more days and we'll be sorry

I'm really, really sorry

One more day and I'll be sorry

Two more days then you'll be sorry

Three more days and we'll be sorry

I'm really, really sorry

One more day and I'll be sorry

Two more days then you'll be sorry

Three more days and we'll be sorry

**Chorus**

Dear Julien, don't make it hard

I wonder, did you read the letter that I sent you?

Oh, oh oh

Why do we have to go?

Living in a cave of snow

I didn't have the heart

Didn't have the heart

Didn't have the heart at all

**Post-Chorus**

La la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

**Outro**

I'm really, really sorry

## **Song credits**

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Kevin Maher
* **Produced by:** Kevin Maher

#### **Studio info**

* **Mixed at:** Mushroom Studios (Vancouver, BC)

## **Background**

Dear Julien was originally intended to release as part of Jepsen's planned second studio album, Curiosity, exclusively in Canada on February 14th 2012. However, before release, Jepsen's label 604 Records would make the decision to cut the album down into six track extended-play instead. Dear Julien was one of five tracks to be cut from the record.

#### **iTunes Canada snippet**

Upon the initial announcement of Curiosity in January 2012, the album was made available to pre-order on iTunes Canada, where snippets of the track were available to preview for a short time. Of these songs, Dear Julien is the only song to have its iTunes snippet appear online - a 1:30-long preview that surfaced in 2014.

#### **Live performances**

Prior to the announcement of Curiosity in 2012, Dear Julien was premiered live by Jepsen on November 12th 2011 in a performance at Headliners, Nanaimo BC. Between 2011 and 2012, the song had been performed live multiple times.

* Headliners, Nanaimo BC - November 12th 2011
* The Gateway at SAIT - November 16th 2011
* Red River EX 2012 - June 23rd 2012
* Celebration Square - July 1st 2012
* Little Lake Music Fest - July 4th 2012
* Sandusky, OH - July 7th 2012
* Calgary Stampede - July 12th 2012
* Chapter One Pavilion - July 19th 2012
* Parc Pierre Trahan - August 17th 2012

## **Writing and development**

#### **Curiosity version**

Dear Julien was written alongside Canadian songwriter and producer Kevin Maher during the development of Jepsen's planned second studio album, Curiosity, sometime between 2009 and 2011. The song was likely written in March 2010, based on a Tweet Jepsen made containing lyrics from the track.  Maher states it was the first song the pair had written together.  In August 2011, the song was in the process of being mixed.

#### **Kiss version**

In February 2012, after being scrapped from the Curiosity extended-play, producer of the song Kevin Maher would tease the possibility of reworking Dear Julien in a "different form" - likely a new version intended to appear on Kiss. It's unknown if a Kiss version of the song was ever produced.

## **Themes and lyricism**

Dear Julien shares inspiration with the Dedicated album track of a similar name, Julien. Both songs were inspired by a French-Canadian ex-boyfriend Jepsen had 'back in the day' whom she met whilst touring Canada, likely around 2009. Jepsen had spent a romantic weekend with Julien in Quebec City, and described their time together as 'very dreamlike.'

The inspiration behind the track comes directly from Julien himself, Jepsen mentioning how she thought he had a 'musical name', and revealed she had been trying to write it into a song since they met, commentating that she thinks she has 'at least four' songs written about him. Dear Julien is the first known iteration of this idea.

## **References**

1. ↑ @carlyraejepsen 'My windows are open and my room smells like daffodils! Got my new gibson, white wine and just the right mood to write me a ditty.' March 24th 2010 - via Twitter
2. ↑ @carlyraejepsen 'Writing a song and stamping my foot and wishing I had a drummer living next door.' March 25th 2010 - via Twitter
3. ↑ @kevvy 'It was my first song I ever wrote with @carlyraejepsen !' August 4th 2016 - via Twitter
4. ↑ @kevvy 'mixing a track i produced for @carlyraejepsen today at mushroom...' August 21st 2011 - via Twitter
5. ↑ @kevvy 'To kids asking about Dear Julien on @carlyraejepsens album, you'll see it in a different form soon!' February 14th 2012 - via Twitter
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Greene, David; Tidmarsh, Kevin (May 15th 2019) "Carly Rae Jepsen Colors Outside The Lines" NPR.org. Retrieved March 7th, 2021.
7. ↑ CarlyRaeJepsen\_ "A French-Canadian guy I met while touring Canada." May 17th 2019. Retrieved March 7th, 2021. - Via Reddit