Carly Rae Jepsen The Loveliest Time Review: The Other Side of Loneliness

The third installment in Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Side B” series, The Loveliest Time works in dialogue with the more downbeat The Loneliest Time. Many of the songs from that album, like “Far Away,” “Bends,” and “Go Find Yourself or Whatever,” introduced a melancholic, even hesitant, mood to the prolific singer-songwriter’s music. As its title suggests, the more joyful, vibrant songs on The Loveliest Time serve as a sonic and thematic counterpoint.

Jepsen’s greatest strength as an artist is making pop music that’s direct without being overly simplistic. She eschews the notion that art needs to be dark or complicated in order to be expressive, and she isn’t afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve or even sound uncool. Though Jepsen’s lyrics may not always be autobiographical, her songs convey a certain vulnerability that feels personal. Her breathy soprano—she practically whispers her way through the spacey “Kollage,” a standout on The Loveliest Time—contributes to that sense of intimacy.

The album is less consistent than 2020’s Dedicated Side B, drawing from influences as varied as reggae (the offbeat “Anything to Be with You”) and disco (lead single “Shy Boy”). The latter track samples the rubbery bass and keyboards from Midnight Star’s 1986 R&B hit “Midas Touch,” while “Psychedelic Switch” juxtaposes filter disco with a touch of prog rock. “Stadium Love” pulls obvious inspiration from 1980s hair metal, complete with electric guitar solo.

Other tracks, like “So Right” and “Come Over,” fall in line with the recent disco revival without adding anything novel to it. The most interesting songs on The Loveliest Time are the ones that introduce unexpected tonal or structural elements, like the glitched-out closing track, “Weekend Love,” and “After Last Night,” which mixes subtle drum ‘n’ bass with futuristic R&B.

In hindsight, last fall’s The Loneliest Time feels like a transitional album whose introspective mood rings slightly hollow. While Jepsen has never repeated the no-skips consistency of 2015’s Emotion, the B-sides concept allows her to work within a framework with much lower stakes. Albums like The Loveliest Time are deliberately fragmentary, meant to fill in the pieces of her discography, and in that sense, this one is a wild success.