Kollage

## **Kollage***The Loveliest Time*

**Kollage** is the sixth track on Carly Rae Jepsen's sixth studio album The Loveliest Time (2023). It was released on July 28th 2023 through 604, School Boy, and Interscope Records.

## **Lyrics**

**Verse 1**

Trying to paint a picture of the sun with all its flowers

Reaching closer past the surface

Like I'm slowly getting closer to you

Living with uncertainty like nothing really matters

Passed the future on my way to work

And found myself back in bed with you

**Pre-Chorus**

Give it all some time

Paralysed devotion

Give it all some time

I've been in the dark

Paralysed in motion

Lost in wintertime

**Chorus**

Did I do it to myself?

Hard to know for sure

Did I hurt somebody else?

'Cause you're the one thing

Nothing really matters

But it matters if it matters to you

It's hard to know for sure

But I believe you're always in my corner

I did it to myself

I did it to you

**Break**

♪

**Verse 2**

I can be enchanted by the simple things

Like watch the way the fires burning, all my letters

All the words I tried to forget

Leaving you was certainly the hardest part of all

But I was living like a servant to a secret I was trying to protect

**Pre-Chorus**

Give it all some time

Paralysed devotion

Give it all some time

I'm still in the dark

Paralysed emotions

Lost and into time

**Chorus**

Did I do it to myself?

It's hard to know for sure

Did I hurt somebody else?

'Cause you're the one thing

Nothing really matters

But it matters if it matters to you

It's hard to know for sure

But I believe you're always in my corner

I did it to myself

I did it to you

**Outro**

♪

*(Did I do it to myself?)*

## **Song credits**

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Patrik Berger
* **Produced by:** Patrik Berger

#### **Instrumentation**

* **Keyboards:** Jesper Nordenström • Patrik Berger

#### **Technical credits**

* **Engineering:** Michelle Amkoff • Patrik Berger
* **Mastering:** Ruairi O'Flaherty
* **Mix engineering:** Nacho Sotelo
* **Mixing:** Anthony Dolhai

## **Background**

Jepsen first shared lyrics to Kollage in an Instagram story on June 15th 2023, when discussing her then-upcoming album The Loveliest Time prior to its official announcement.  Jepsen teased the song a second time on July 15th 2023 via her Instagram story, with an illustration drawn by her boyfriend.

On July 17th, Carly posted an extended snippet of the track and revealed its title - she discussed the inspiration behind the song, stating: "My first instinct when I hurt is to pull away from everyone I love, thinking I’m protecting them. From childhood on, my idea was to keep smiling even when things hurt. Kollage is a song about how wrong I was to think this helped anyone. This song is a big lesson that I keep on learning."

## **Writing and development**

Kollage was written for The Loneliest Time between 2020 and 2022, and appears to have been reworked by Jepsen alongside Patrik Berger around April 2023 for The Loveliest Time. , The song was titled Kollage, the Swedish spelling of the word "collage", due to the way it was spelt by Berger when naming the song's original file. The name is inspired by "fragments of life pierced together to create new art."

Carly discussed the song in an interview with Rolling Stone, stating, "It was important to me that “Kollage” was on this album, even though it is a darker offering. It’s more melancholy and deals with realizing that when you hurt yourself, you’re hurting the people that love you. It’s about coming to that place of owning your shit. Part of self-love is self-acceptance of that stuff too."  The song is about "striving for closer human connection."

Jepsen shared that Kollage initially felt "too heavy" to share on The Loneliest Time, and that fan reception to the track Bends convinced her otherwise: "One of the greatest gifts that my fans have given back to me, it’s the feeling that anytime I think it’s too much or if it’s gonna go to a dark place and I feel like they’re expecting to me to be a little bit more escapism and happy music, it’s received with so much love. (...) I think that “Kollage” was almost too heavy for me to be ready to share [on The Loneliest Time] on a personal level."  In October 2023, Jepsen described Kollage as her favourite song of the album.

## **Live performances**

Kollage made its live debut on July 28th 2023 during the Anything To Be With You tour. On August 10th 2023, Carly performed the song on Good Morning America as part of their 2023 Summer Concert Series.

## **References**

1. ↑ @carlyraewiki "@carlyraejepsen teases new song lyrics: "Trying to paint a picture of the sun with all its flowers (...)" June 15th 2023 - via Twitter
2. ↑ @carlyraeupdts "Carly via instagram." July 15th 2023 - via Twitter
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Paddle Project | Carly Rae Jepsen" Paddle Project, October 30th 2023
4. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "This one is fragile. I am nervous to share something so intimate, but I feel really thrilled too. Here goes everything… 🌻 (...)" July 17th 2023 - via Instagram
5. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "Ice cream, studio and all the things that I love. Traveling as I do (at the speed of crazy) and I think I am in Sweden now? (...)" April 13th 2023 - via Twitter
6. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "...Crossword puzzle that is. Here are some cutie clues to get you guessing our track list." July 18th 2023 - via Twitter
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Spanos, Brittany "Carly Rae Jepsen Says Her New Project ‘The Loveliest Time’ Is Her Favorite — and Freest — Album Yet" Rolling Stone, July 19th 2023