Carly Rae Jepsen has spent her career making records about love, and Day and Night is her most ambitious attempt yet to capture the whole thing — the morning sunlight, the nightclub, the nervous phone call, the quiet confession. It is a double album, split between a sunlit Day side and a darker Night side, and it moves through disco, dream pop, Balearic house, and bossa nova as it goes. The record is built around her marriage to producer Cole M.G.N., who co-wrote and produced several tracks, including the bubbly family anthem “Motivation” and the bossa nova closer “Just a Little Walk on the Moon.”
Opening With Dream Pop
The Day side opens with a warm, airy sound. Tracks like “Habits of Creatures,” a nu-disco track with synths that mimic Todd Terje’s work, establish Jepsen’s desire for stability — she sings, “Gimme some more of the same,” as the synths pirouette toward the heavens. “Soft” follows, a lighter track where she lets her guard down and twirls into her lover’s arms. The Day side draws from dream pop and folk pop, and Jepsen sounds like she is on cloud nine throughout.
Night Hits the Clubs
The Night side is where the record gets direct. It moves through deep house (“Near or Far”), a sexy, sample-heavy track called “Never Let a Good Thing Die,” and plenty of disco. “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” is a sing-so-hard-you-cry proclamation, with each repeat of the title — from sky-high shouts to cellophane-thin coos — feeling like the difference between life and death. The track recalls French touch and ABBA in its metallic chorus, as Jepsen begs her lover not to leave her in the dark.
Versailles Takes Its Cue From Sofia Coppola
One of the standout tracks is “Versailles,” a bacchanal that takes overt inspiration from Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette. Jepsen beckons her love to engage in life’s vices with her, describing marring bedsheets with fruit stains and dashing nude through the garden. The track is opulent and seductive, a tableau of excess.
Cole M.G.N.’s Production Role
M.G.N. is a significant presence on the record. He co-wrote and produced several songs, and his contributions add a personal touch to the production. The record was chiefly produced by Jepsen mainstay Kyle Shearer, who provides Day and Night’s most danceable tracks. Other producers join in, including Bullion, CJ Baran, and Magnus Lidehäll.
The Vulnerable Heart of the Album
Throughout the record, Jepsen’s repeated gasps of “I love you” make for the album’s most romantic and vulnerable moment. Despite the Edenic imagery painted throughout Day and Night, those simple words carry the weight. Seven years ago, on Dedicated’s “Real Love,” Jepsen screamed to the clouds about wanting genuine connection. On Day and Night, it sounds like she has found it.
Night Closes With Super Sage
The Night side closes with “Super Sage,” a track that starts with Jepsen nervously pacing, worried she is driving her lover to the brink. Synths pile and pan like spiraling anxieties, then suddenly the track rockets to the psychedelic-pop cosmos. The tempo picks up, synths undulate like a sine wave, and it all mimics that rush of heat one feels when they are about to confess everything.
A Record That Moves Constantly
Day and Night is a substantial commitment from the listener. It moves from Balearic afternoons to two-stepping sunsets to bossa-nova confessionals under a twilight sky. It is Jepsen’s most experimental and exhilarating work, and she makes falling in love feel brand-new all over again.
| Side | Style | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Dream pop, folk pop, Balearic | Serene, sunlit |
| Night | Disco, deep house, club music | Direct, urgent |
The record is a travelogue of love, both musical and emotional. Jepsen’s instinct to follow her heart, whether it’s toward new love or to experiment with an untouched genre, has always been her greatest asset. On Day and Night, she uses that instinct to move through a wide range of styles — dream pop and folk pop on the Day side, disco and deep house on the Night side — while drawing on her romance with M.G.N. for much of the material. The result is a double album that rarely repeats itself, moving from one emotional landscape to another without losing momentum.
The record asks listeners to sit with the dizzying highs and the crushing lows of being in a relationship. It is a record about love, and Jepsen delivers it with her syrupy-sweet voice and an instinct to follow her heart that has always been her greatest asset.
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