Hi, everyone! 1Thony 2Tano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Carly Rae Jepsen album, Day and Night.

Canadian pop underdog and songstress, Carly Rae Jepsen, is back with the eighth full-length album, her most massive project ever, and follows 2023's The Loveliest Time, which fans will remember was pretty much a companion album to 2022's The Loneliest Time.

Carly is so many projects into her career right now, I hope I don't have to sort of re-explain her debut, Call Me Maybe, the way she sort of reset her career with the landmark album, Emotion. We are long past that point in history and have now settled into one of the most respectable runs any modern pop star has had in, recent memory.

And, in addition to that, over the years, Carly has kind of formed this release pattern with every album cycle, which makes her pretty unique because with each new album she often will drop an additional record of material. And she was establishing this mode of doing things long before the modern deluxe album in the streaming age had not only become a thing, but really an expectation much of the time. And as Carly has continued to treat her fans to these extras projects, she seemingly has been getting more ambitious with them too.

Day and Night here basically builds on that momentum by totally sidestepping any pretense of the "encore" album. Because at this point, if you know Carly is just gonna make a quick return once the record is over, why even disappear off the stage to begin with? Which is why Day and Night is a 90-minute double album experience. And these two records have two completely different distinct flavors and vibes.

And of course, this extra runtime gives Carly and her collaborators a lot of time to experiment and try a few new things, as well as meditate on the ways that her life has changed over the course of her career. Especially recently, because she not too long ago had fallen in love, gotten married, and just had her first baby too. With numerous tracks that see her, singing about family. About the romantic dynamics in her marriage and still trying to find ways to create these intimate and personal moments in a relationship as Carly and her partner's lives grow more hectic and demanding every day.

Now, it's said that Disc One, in this double album feature, is supposed to be the more optimistic, playful, sunny disc. Disc Two is meant to be more sleek, low-key, synth-driven, and set up the feeling of it being night. It really is a tale of two albums, even if technically it is supposed to be one record. And as a result, I had somewhat differing feelings on each disc. I think Disc One is where Carly and her collaborators really try to spread their wings and take risks; however, the issue is, I feel that more often than not, these experiments and these forays into sounds that aren't necessarily Carly's strong suit, they don't always pan out well.

For example, "Wild Child" is one of those rare moments in Carly's catalog where we get a straight-up acoustic ballad. One with a very quiet, gentle, indie folk demeanor. Which is a style that her vocals and heart-wrenching lyrics about hurting someone romantically fit into pretty nicely. It's great, but by contrast, we also have tracks on the first disc, like "Versailles." Which is this weird, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, style of pop that changes groove and instrumental palette with each new section. I imagine, in an attempt to do something out there and quirky, but it only ends up sounding like a bad Vampire Weekend rip-off or something along the lines of two different songs being smashed together for the sake of creating this pop Frankenstein monster.

Through the rest of the tracklist, we're kind of bouncing back and forth between ideas that aren't always executed well. Do I love the psychedelic layers of vocals, synths, and guitars on the roaring hook of "On Wires?" Yeah. Probably the heaviest a Carly Rae Jepsen song has ever sounded. And the soft rock energy of "Good Fine Alright" is surprisingly sensible for Carly's vocal range, too. But am I as impressed with the glitter-coated Springsteen worship on "Burning Heart?" Not really.

It lacks bite, or even fire, despite the title. And I could really take or leave the 70s pop-soul disco throwback blends of the opening track, which really falls short of generating a compelling groove of any sort. The driving beats and thin, ghostly pianos on the chorus are actually kinda laughable, and make the nostalgic, bland, dance bait of any given jungle album sound inventive by comparison.

And while, yeah, again, the lack of boundaries on this first disc can be exciting, it can also lead to a lot of disappointments. For example, "Something Tragic" kinda sounds like what you would get if Magdalena Bay collaborated with Peter, Bjorn and John in the mid-2000s, creating this made-up collaboration I didn't even know I needed.

But then, with the closer, "Just a Little Walk on the Moon," this one's kind of a very poor attempt at doing an electric guitar-backed vocal jazz ballad with a touch of bossa nova in there, too. I just don't think Carly's soft vocal presence and limited range really lend themselves to this style. Not to mention the track is repeatedly interrupted by these thick rushes of bass and synths that seem completely at odds with how the song starts off.

Now, again, moving from here into Disc Two, this one has a very different energy to it, despite maintaining a lot of the same writers and collaborators of the first disc. And in my opinion, the focus on this record is so much better. I think its vision is a lot more purposeful. It's to the point where I actually wish this was the album. It simply could've just been Night.

Because in short, this one is a dance record. It's a dance record that covers a lot of different bases, but a dance album all the same, and the consistent adherence toward grooves, I think, provides enough of a baseline for every song to work from so that it doesn't go completely off the rails.

Across the track list here, we have notes of house, dance pop, synth pop, a little trance, too, with, again, the grooves kind of being the glue that holds the whole thing together. And personally, I prefer that it's not trying to come across as if it's more sophisticated than it actually is, although it occasionally runs, to my ears, maybe a little too polite to be a proper dance album.

"Never Let a Good Thing Die" for example, has tight beats and synth bass lines, but the full brunt of the chorus on this one is just too soft, too hanging in the yellow, it's a track that's more fit for a run to the store versus the dance floor.

Meanwhile, "No Labels, I Love You," I think, sounds maybe a little too close to a changing room pop if it wasn't for the desperation in Carly's voice and her foul mouth, as she describes this very tragic situationship dynamic. But look, even the blander and more underwhelming moments on this record are pretty solid, or at least are more pleasurable to listen to than the lowest spots on the day disc. Because when Disc Two does go full tilt, it actually does scratch that dance itch.

"Don't Leave Me on the Dance Floor" is an electropop anthem of the highest order, with crunchy, bright, bubbling synthesizers that are just pounding against a powerful hook, and verses that are actually memorable and build up tension super well. By contrast, "Near or Far" sounds like some really cool Madonna Ray of Light-era worship, with some mysterious synth breakdowns too.

But as good as the grooves and production are, I think it's really the writing where this side of the album falters most. Maybe some of the lyrics and topics of Disc One could have been shifted over onto Disc Two for some more interesting lyrical moments.

"Patience Power Passion," for example, I think is maybe just a little too on the nose, with a repetitively mind-numbing chorus. Meanwhile, on "Motivation," which features lyrics like, "We go hard in this family / We love hard in this family / I'm in love with my family / We've got room for insanity." I mean, maybe this track is coming from a real place, but it sounds like the theme song to a new Netflix family sitcom.

The final moments of Disc Two, I will say, are pretty solid. There's "Hold Me to the Light," which is equal parts elegant and groovy. "That's Just Me" packs an emotional punch with an 80s sheen on it because the lyrics are all about getting over someone. And "Super Sage" leans into these really droning, pulsating electronics that make for a very dreamy finale. A wall of blissful sound that I just want to swim in.

But yeah, one of these two discs, I'm very neutral or a little underwhelmed by. The other I actually like, don't love, but still like– think it's very solid. I'm feeling a five on Disc One, I would say. I'm feeling a seven on Disc Two. If you wanted to average them both out to a six overall, you could.

But again, I feel like this project, if anything, just illustrates that despite the fact that Carly has had a lot of success over the years dropping with one project coming right after the other, that doesn't necessarily mean that she is a double album kind of artist. Because as much as I have enjoyed a lot of Carly's music over the years, I don't think she has the lyrical or the vocal range to carry 90 minutes of music and have it be interesting throughout.

I'm not sure if her producers and collaborators here really have the range necessary to pull off the weirdest moments on Disc One. And on top of it, there's not really a conceptual thread tying these projects together either. It's really like we just got two different albums together at once. And one just so happens to be quite a bit better than the other.

Anthony Fantano, Carly Rae Jepsen, forever.