Here we are once again: the last issue of the semester. This one hits especially hard for me – come May, I’m out of here for real for real. Graduation. Job(s). Apartment(s). Taxes. But don’t cry for me just yet – I’ve still got one more article to put out. One last chance to leave a real impact on the SLU community.

It’s time to stop sleeping on Carly Rae Jepsen. Yes, this is in fact the hill I’ve decided to die on. My pièce de résistance. My swan song. Let’s get started.

I’ll begin with the tired shit first. “Call Me Maybe.” We all remember it, try as some of us might to forget it. Even you First-Years who were maybe fetuses, if that, when it came out in 2012 – you know what this song is all about. I’m talking infatuation. I’m talking risk-taking. I’m talking an unapologetic female gaze.

But we’re all familiar with the story. “Call Me Maybe” taught us it’s possible for stars to shine too brightly. The song has over 1.1 billion views on YouTube – but you, your grandma and your grandma’s ratty dog know that “Call Me Maybe” got fucking annoying real quick (let’s see if the editors keep that in lmao) (Editor’s Note: yes, yes we did).

But y’all, it’s 2019. It’s been seven years. I’m not gonna deliver a big spiel, but it’s time to recognize the fact that just because it was overplayed on the radio, doesn’t mean “Call Me Maybe” is a terrible song. Moving on.

Next comes “Emotion,” Carly Rae’s sophomore album that traded album sales for Quality – a move that secured her a seat at the Cult Pop Icon table along the likes of Lorde, MARINA, and, perhaps most of all, Robyn.

Like Robyn before her, Carly Rae traded in the bubblegum pop-iness of her debut for slick ’80s synths. This is best exemplified on the album’s opener, “Run Away With Me,” which begins with a synth riff so smooth that it seduced me, stole my girl and slashed my tires, and I wasn’t even mad. You might recognize the riff from that Vine where the seal spins around its pool with a toy saxophone. A cinematic masterpiece.

“Run Away With Me” reintroduced me to Carly Rae and piqued my interest enough to buy the album – and I’m glad I did. The production is slick as hell and rife with ’80s nostalgia, and the album’s standouts (“Emotion,” “Gimme Love,” “Your Type”) are infectious but never reach a point where they become exhausting.

At this point, I’m sure you’re probably wondering, why now am I choosing to champion this cause, worthy as it may be? After a four-year-long wait, Carly Rae’s got a new album, “Dedication,” coming out May 17 – and the singles she’s dropped so far are supremely promising.Each single showcases a different sound. Opener “Julien” is a healthy mix of disco and vaporwave with some house added in for good measure, while “No Drug Like Me” is a gritty, syncopated slow jam.

The latter song is also a prime example of Carly Rae’s newfound appreciation for her own sensuality. In it, she sings: “I’m open wide / Take me so, up and down.” Miss Carly Rae isn’t holding anything back, and it’s working in her favor.

A random parting thought: “Dedication,” or at least what can be heard so far, doesn’t serve as a solid breakaway from “Call Me Maybe,” but rather, it should remind us that what that song is, what made it so huge, was never bad to begin with.