When we reached out to Carly Rae Jepsen to talk about “Call Me Maybe” — her ubiquitous smash, which is No. 1 for the third straight week in a row — we told her that Metro readers had named it the song of the summer. We told her we’d love to ask her a few questions about the song. Call me, maybe, we said. The 26-year-old singer was caught in the whirlwind that sudden international attention demands, but she asked if we would settle for an e-mail interview. Hey, we just met her, and this is crazy, but even in electronic correspondence, the bubbly persona of her hit song comes through.
Hello Carly Rae Jepsen! Congrats on pretty much having locked up the honor of Song of the Summer with “Call Me Maybe.”
Oh, wow! Thank you so much. It definitely has been quite the ride. Happy to hear it makes the summer playlist!
I’ve seen that you’ve said you were shocked about the song becoming No. 1, but when you wrote it, did you have any idea that it would at least be a hit?
I co-wrote “Call Me Maybe” with two of my best friends: Josh Ramsay and Tavish Crowe. None of us expected this. We enjoyed the writing and production process and thought it was a fun one, but that’s about it.
What time of the year was it when you wrote it?
It was written in the summertime. [It] started out as a folk song that Tav and I were jamming to while on tour. Then we showed the idea to Josh and he helped us “popify” it!
There’s one part in the “21 Jump Street” movie where Jonah Hill’s character, as an older undercover cop, calls a girl in his class, and she says something to the effect of, “What are you doing? Nobody calls anybody anymore!” Was there any thought that using the phrase “call me” might seem outdated to kids? Was there ever a draft of the song that was “Text Me Maybe” or anything?
Nah, “text me” doesn’t sing as well. LOL.
There have been so many tributes and parodies of “Call Me Maybe.” Which one is your favorite?
That’s hard to decide. I like the video with Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale and the guys from Big Time Rush. It was sort of the video to spark them all, so it’s special to me. That being said, the Katy Perry one makes me smile too.
Any plans to incorporate the Harvard Baseball team’s elaborate choreography into your live show?
Hahaha! Yah know, that’s not a bad idea.
So many people have covered the song as well. If you could hear any artist living or dead sing it, who would it be?
John Mayer. … He’s my celebrity crush. Him and Ryan Gosling. A duet perhaps? LOL!
The Song of the Summer is such an interesting honor because it means your song serves as the soundtrack to a time of year that is so traditionally happy. What have been some of your own personal Songs of the Summer from growing up? Any fun memories to share?
My summer is always about camping, which means guitars and bonfires and good old fashioned sing-alongs. This summer I am really digging the band fun. “We Are Young” is such a rad track.
So, the guy that you originally wrote the song about — he definitely called you, right?
I’ve never asked a guy for his number quite like that. But the song was
inspired by a boy. “[The line] before you came into my life I missed you
so bad” was written for the guy I’m seeing now. He was the missing
piece to my happiness. And yeah, after that first hello, we called each
other.
Are you sick of “Call Me Maybe” at all?
This song has taken me on the adventure of a lifetime — so no, not sick of it yet!
Are you sick of talking about the song? Apologies for the past few minutes of questions if so!
Not really. Getting to talk about it in the first place makes me realize how lucky I am. I feel very grateful.
What is something else you would like the readers to know?
I need to say thank you to everyone for all the support and love. It means the world to me.
To stream your Songs of Summer playlist, just click below. Or click here to download the mix. You’ll find both clean versions and explicit versions. Enjoy!
