Carly Rae Jepsen

by nadiaharoun  |  January 04, 2012 [Edit]

Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 20, 1985) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Mission, B.C.. In the summer of 2007 she placed third in the fifth season of Canadian Idol. She was also a part of the Canadian Idol Top 3 concert tour.

Carly attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria BC before auditioning for Canadian Idol. After completing the Canadian Idol tour, Jepsen retreated to B.C. to focus on writing, recording and completing her band. Her demos attracted a flurry of attention, and she was eventually signed a joint management deal with Simkin Artist Management and Dexter Entertainment. A deal with Fontana/Maple Music quickly followed, leading Jepsen into the studio with producer/writer Ryan Stewart. She now is signed with Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber's Manager) and is planning to work with Justin Bieber in the future.

On June 16, 2008, Jepsen released her debut single and another single, a cover of John Denver's song "Sunshine On My Shoulders". It is the only cover song on her debut album. On July 21, 2008, Jepsen added two new songs from the album to her MySpace page: "Bucket" and "Heavy Lifting". In August 2008, Jepsen's MySpace page announced that the album's title would be Tug of War, and it was released on September 30, 2008. The page also mentioned two more songs that were included on the album: "Tug of War" and "Sweet Talker". The former was released as a single on iTunes on September 16, 2008, and has been receiving radio airplay on various stations across Canada. She performed the latter as her Canadian Idol audition.

A music video for "Tug of War" was released in January 2009. "Bucket", her second single, was released in May 2009, and the video for "Sour Candy", a duet with Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench who has also help produce some of her songs including Call Me Maybe, has also been released. All of Jepsen's music videos have been directed by Ben Knechtel. In spring 2009, she toured western Canada with Marianas Trench and Shiloh. She then went on a cross-Canada tour with Marianas Trench, The New Cities and Mission District.

Carly's second album "Curiosity" was released on February 14, 2012. It was produced by Ryan Stewart and Kevin James Maher produced the track "Dear Julien". On the same day as the release, Justin Bieber made the announcement on the MuchMusic program "New Music Live" that Jepsen has been signed to Schoolboy Records, the label run by Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun. The lead single, "Call Me Maybe", from her second studio album Curiosity was released on September 21, 2011 and was produced by Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench and co-written by Jepsen, Ramsay and Tavish Crowe. "Call Me Maybe" is the first song by a Canadian artist to reach the top of the digital chart since Justin Bieber’s “Baby” in January 2010. It is also only the 11th song by a Canadian artist to reach No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital download sales in 2005. The song has also peaked at #1 on Billboard's Canadian Hot 100, being the 4th Canadian artist to do so, after Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend", Nikki Yanofsky's "I Believe", and the Young Artists for Haiti version of "Wavin' Flag", originally by Canadian rapper K'naan. Carly is currently touring on the Shout it Out World Tour. She is the opening act for the pop-rock trio Hanson. In February 2012, Carly visited Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun in Los Angeles, California, where she subsequently signed to Schoolboy Records and Interscope. Her music will still be distributed by 604 Records in Canada.

(Last edited by AndrewGustavo)