Bends

## **Bends***The Loneliest Time*

**Bends** is the seventh track on Carly Rae Jepsen's fifth studio album The Loneliest Time (2022). It was released in October 21st 2022, through 604, School Boy and Interscope Records.

## **Lyrics**

**Verse 1**

Sunshine somewhere in Mexico

Long day, I didn't feel so good

Lonely, am I being sensitive?

Blue eyes, you were the sensitive one

Just like this isn't happening

Do-doo, do-doo do doo-do-do-do

**Pre-Chorus**

It's too late for that flight

To see you, how can this be life?

How can this be life?

**Chorus**

I can feel the sun on you

Warm me up the way you do

After all the clouds have dried

Here's a jar of tears I've cried

Keep it in the sacred place

Hold me in your humble grace

'Cause I can feel the darkness sometimes too

**Verse 2**

Moonlight, stars in the water glow

Swim out, baptise me indigo

Just me and all of cousins know

Blue eyes, we are the sensitive ones

Tell me this isn't happening *(this isn't happening)*

Do-doo, do-doo do doo-do-do-do

**Pre-Chorus**

In tree forts, I'll see you

True wild one, where are you tonight?

Where are you tonight?

Where's your home tonight?

How can this be life?

**Chorus**

And I can feel the sun on you

Warm me up the way you do

After all the clouds have dried

Here's a jar of tears I've cried

Oh, keep it in a sacred place

Hold me in your humble grace

'Cause I can feel the darkness sometimes too

But I can feel the sun on you

## **Song credits**

#### **Writing and production**

* **Written by:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Tavish Crowe • Nathan Jenkins
* **Produced by:** Bullion

#### **Performance**

* **Vocals:** Carly Rae Jepsen • Nathan Jenkins

#### **Instrumentation**

* **Bass:** Nathan Jenkins
* **Synthesizer:** Nathan Jenkins

#### **Technical credits**

* **Vocal production:** Jonathan Gilmore
* **Mixing:** Anthony Dolhai
* **Engineering:** Anthony Dolhai • Nathan Jenkins
* **Vocal programming** Nathan Jenkins

## **Background**

Bends is a song from Jepsen's fifth studio album The Loneliest Time. Its title was first revealed alongside the announcement of the album's track listing on August 22nd 2022.

## **Writing and development**

Bends was written by Jepsen alongside Tavish Crowe and Nathan Jenkins, between 2020 and 2022 during the development of The Loneliest Time. The song reworks the chorus of a previously leaked unreleased song titled Sun On You.

Jenkins shared to Instagram that the three worked on the song between Toronto and London, alongside the track Far Away.  The first meeting for the song came in London in February 2022, alongside recording Waterlines.

## **Themes and lyricism**

#### **Storyline and inspiration**

Bends discusses Jepsen's first experience with grief, and the emotional aftermath following the loss of two family members who passed away during the pandemic – her grandmother, and her cousin.

The song was written the night Jepsen and her family had found out the news of her cousin's passing, as a way of processing what had happened. She explained, “I was with the rest of my cousins in Mexico City, and it was such a shock to all of us to lose him. He was my age, we grew up almost identically. We grew up together, you know, in tree forts, and he was my next-door neighbour for a time, too.”

“We had gone out swimming that day, by the demand of my uncle, and to honour my cousin we went to the water as a family. I was so hit by what it was to be in the water, which feels quite healing, and to be crying, and to be looking at the people that I loved, and not be isolated in that hurt place.”

Carly described that the song, and her uncle, taught her a 'beautiful lesson' in what it was like to begin the process of healing. “It didn't fix everything, but it was so necessary to feel it together. I was so affected by the choice to do that in that moment, and I wanted to write about it.”

In previous interviews, Jepsen has also connected the song to the loss of her grandmother. Due to travel restrictions, she wasn't able to travel across the Canadian border to see her, or mourn with her family, and was left alone to grieve in Los Angeles.  Carly described that the song's production was intended to evoke a “sad, communal feeling” she shared with her family members in mourning.

#### **Song title meaning**

It's unclear what the title "Bends" means, as it's something Jepsen hasn't discussed. It may refer to decompression sickness, often generalised as "the bends", which is caused by a rapid decrease in either air or water pressure surrounding a person. It could also refer to the act of "bending", an action that changes the shape of something, or "bends", as in a curve in a road, river, or path.

#### **Inclusion on The Loneliest Time**

Carly explained that Bends was originally written as a song "just for her," and that it wasn't initially considered to be apart of the album, until she played the song to her team in a meeting. “In this moment, I played 'Bends' for them, and I don't tell them what it's about, and I just see if they can pick it up, and I'm almost hopeful that they can't. But they were moved enough to make it feel safe to show others, and that's when I started to show "Far Away," and things like "Kollage," and my sadder, more private songs.”

## **Live performances**

Bends made its live debut on February 4th 2023 during the United Kingdom and Ireland leg of The So Nice Tour, beginning in Dublin, Ireland. Whilst on tour, Carly would be working on The Loveliest Time, and she explained that it was audience reception to Bends which inspired her to include Kollage on the album - a song she states had previously felt “too heavy” to share.

## **References**

1. ↑ @carlyraejepsen 'Here it is… each and every song that makes up The Loneliest Time. Assembled with the utmost intention and care...' August 22nd 2022 - via Twitter
2. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "The making of The Loneliest Time (...)" October 27th 2022
3. ↑ @bullionness Excited to be part of the new @carlyraejepsen album, out October 21st! We wrote and recorded Far Away and Bends... Instagram, August 29th 2022
4. ↑ @carlyraejepsen "The new @Bullionness album Affection comes out in April and we are all so lucky for that! (...)" January 25th 2024 - via Instagram
5. ↑ @CarlyCrave "🚨POP EMERGENCY🚨@carlyraejepsen teases new music snippet on Instagram! 🎶" February 26th 2022 (via Twitter)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Guy Raz "Carly Rae Jepsen: I Was Waiting Tables When 'Call Me Maybe' Went To #1 | Guy Raz" September 19th 2023, via YouTube
7. ↑ Sheffield, Rob "Carly Rae Jepsen Dances Her Way Through Heartbreak" Rolling Stone, October 20th 2022
8. ↑ Bell, Keaton "Carly Rae Jepsen’s Loneliest Hour" VOGUE, October 26th 2022
9. ↑ Kornhaber, Spencer "Carly Rae Jepsen Pierces the Fantasy The Atlantic, October 20th 2022
10. ↑ Spanos, Brittany "Carly Rae Jepsen Says Her New Project ‘The Loveliest Time’ Is Her Favorite — and Freest — Album Yet" Rolling Stone, July 19th 2023