Carly Rae Jepsen’s The Loveliest Time is a pop album that wants to be everything at once. It moves through ’80s synth-pop, go-go rhythms, French touch production, and IDM-inspired electronics, all while keeping her voice front and center. The record runs 43 minutes across 13 tracks, and it mostly succeeds at balancing range with heart.
The critical reception backs this up. Pitchfork noted that Jepsen’s music can handle “an enormous amount of artifice,” so long as she sings from the heart. Beats Per Minute called it “another panorama of heartfelt pop music.”
Opening With ‘Anything to Be With You’
The album starts with ‘Anything to Be With You,’ a track that sets the tone with its title — longing, immediate, built for radio. ‘Kamikaze’ follows with a sharper edge, its title suggesting danger that the music doesn’t fully deliver. ‘After Last Night’ and ‘Aeroplanes’ keep the momentum without reaching the heights of the first two.
‘Shy Boy’ is the clear standout of the early run. It’s a slow-burning ballad that shows Jepsen’s control over melody, and it’s easy to hear why critics singled it out. ‘Kollage’ stretches past four minutes and tests patience with its layered build, while ‘Shadow’ stays brief and slight.
The Middle Stretch
‘Psychedelic Switch’ is the album’s boldest moment. It leans into IDM textures and proves Jepsen can sit with discomfort without losing the song. ‘So Right’ and ‘Come Over’ are solid, mid-tempo cuts that don’t demand attention but don’t deserve to be skipped either.
‘Put It to Rest’ closes the middle stretch with a gentle, reflective mood. ‘Stadium Love’ and ‘Weekend Love’ end the record on a lighter note, though neither reaches the peaks of the album’s highlights.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The strength of The Loveliest Time is its ambition. Jepsen isn’t content to repeat a formula. She experiments with genre and texture, and she commits to each idea fully. That commitment is what makes ‘Shy Boy’ and ‘Psychedelic Switch’ work — they’re risks that pay off.
But the album’s weaker moments show where the ambition strains. Tracks like ‘Kollage’ and ‘Shadow’ feel padded, their length exceeding their substance. The middle stretch, from ‘So Right’ through ‘Put It to Rest,’ is competent but forgettable — pleasant background listening rather than something that demands replay.
The record’s best moments are its most focused ones. ‘Anything to Be With You’ and ‘Kamikaze’ start the album with confidence, and ‘Shy Boy’ and ‘Psychedelic Switch’ prove Jepsen can handle complexity without losing clarity. The lesser tracks don’t sink the record, but they keep it from being essential.
So long as she sings from the heart, The Loveliest Time suggests that Jepsen’s music can tolerate an enormous amount of artifice.
That’s the key to reading this album. Jepsen’s voice is the constant, and when the arrangements step aside, the songs land. When they don’t, the record feels like a demo with too many effects turned on.
Final Word
The Loveliest Time is a confident, uneven pop album that rewards attention to its highlights and tolerates its filler. The best tracks — ‘Anything to Be With You,’ ‘Kamikaze,’ ‘Shy Boy,’ and ‘Psychedelic Switch’ — are as strong as anything Jepsen has put out. The rest is pleasant but disposable.
This is a record that knows exactly what it wants to be, even when it doesn’t quite get there. It’s worth hearing for the highs, and the lows are easy to skip.
- Anything to Be With You3:17
- Kamikaze2:59
- After Last Night3:29
- Aeroplanes3:21
- Shy Boy3:29
- Kollage4:17
- Shadow2:49
- Psychedelic Switch4:32
- So Right3:36
- Come Over2:54
- Put It to Rest3:18
- Stadium Love2:51
- Weekend Love2:42
