In 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” became self-aware. It went viral. It was covered by everyone from Dan Deacon to Kelly Clarkson to Overly Attached Girlfriend. It became part of the zeitgeist. President Obama even had opinions about it: In an interview with a New Mexico radio station in 2012, he admitted he’d heard the mashup created by YouTube channel baracksbubs, and said of the original, “It looks like a cute pop song.”
YouTube is where Jepsen’s song flourished, where countless parodies made the song take on a life of its own. Three years later, with “Call Me Maybe” sitting at more than 650 million hits, Jepsen is hoping that trick can be replicated once again. Like, really, really hoping.
“I Really Like You” is another attempt at a cute pop song, but it lacks a bit of the dynamism of her viral hit. The abundance of reallys in the chorus seems to be taking the place of the oppressive “Whoa-oo-oh” present in every pop chorus now. As with “Call Me Maybe,” the song is tailor-made to accompany the credits of an MTV reality show. The race to cover it is already on.Yes, it’s as mindless as “Call Me Maybe.” But there is a well-tread formula at work here, a residual effect. That chorus is still pinballing around in my head an hour after I said, “Ugh,” then played it three more times.Screengrab via CarlyRaeJepsenVEVO/YouTube