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Regardless of what its title would lead you to consider, The Loneliest Time isn’t actually an album about pandemic isolation. The Canadian singer did write a lot of the album through the early phases of lockdown, however loneliness is extra of a prevailing situation than consisent subject material, a wave of feeling that has been creeping into her ecstatic, dancefloor-ready pop a minimum of since 2019’s Dedication. However whereas that album and the B-sides assortment that adopted it in Could 2020 capitalized on the style’s potential as a vessel for escapism, The Loneliest Time takes a extra grounded and expansive method. This isn’t an album-length ‘Occasion for One’ – as an alternative, Jepsen surveys the gamut of feelings that arose throughout this time via the lens of trustworthy introspection, attempting to withstand the spark of an outdated flame whereas opening as much as the probabilities of recent love. The report fittingly finds her sticking to her trusted pop formulation whereas flirting with new sounds, with outcomes starting from uneven to refreshing to rapturous.
Jepsen is understood for penning a whole bunch of songs earlier than whittling them all the way down to an album, and within the technique of assembling The Loneliest Time, she appears to have sacrificed pure cohesion for the type of versatility that will extra precisely characterize this unsure interval. She hinted as a lot within the album’s advance singles, from the wistful dreaminess of ‘Western Wind’ to the tite monitor, a disco-tinged duet with Rufus Wainwright. However the track that seems like the largest departure, even within the context of the album, is ‘Seaside Home’, on which Jepsen relays a collection of horrible courting app experiences with a way of corniness that borders on camp. It’s the sound of her cynically logging off and connecting with others over the absurdity of the courting scene, however it’s the one time the place she dangers shedding her voice whereas bringing new characters into it. Her vary is extra obvious within the multitude of the way she’s in a position to channel euphoria: particularly for a singer who tends to shoot for the moon, the syrupy and pared-back ‘So Good’ is a nice shock, whereas ‘Capturing Star’ is an extravagant peak even by Jepsen’s requirements.
The sonic palette of The Loneliest Time is numerous, however Jepsen’s development as a songwriter shines via much more in her lyrics. The album kicks off with certainly one of its strongest songs, ‘Give up My Coronary heart’, which sees Jepsen shedding her emotional armor: “I used to soldier via my hardest days/ I used to modify it off, ignore the ache,” she admits, taking her therapist’s recommendation to melt slightly than toughen up. Not solely does she put on that vulnerability on her sleeve all through the report, however it additionally additional bolsters characteristically infectious synthpop bangers like ‘Speaking to Your self’ to ‘Dangerous Factor Twice’. When she sings about discovering not simply pleasure however confidence in a beloved one’s presence on the bubbly ‘Sideways’, nevertheless, the track sounds all too static because it ambles alongside in a daze. The manufacturing of a track like ‘Western Wind’ is a lot better at capturing each the sentiment and texture of Jepsen’s songwriting, permitting her starry-eyed romanticism to bloom with out changing into superficially theatrical.
It’s no coincidence that, like ‘Western Wind’, the second finest track on The Loneliest Time was additionally produced by ex-Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij. That it’s a ballad shouldn’t be a shock for anybody who can title one of many finest tracks off Devoted Facet B, however Jepsen hasn’t actually pulled off a guitar-led people tune like this earlier than: for a breakup track titled ‘Go Discover Your self or No matter’, it’s neither biting nor overly moody, placing a fragile center floor with out overcomplicating issues. The album may need benefited from a sharper focus, however it’s clear that making it has helped Jepsen uncover new instruments for homing in on the subtleties of easy but overwhelming feelings. It’s not a metamorphosis – at its finest, The Loneliest Time as an alternative displays how we discover and reply to the modifications taking place round us, how we retreat into the previous and hope desperately for the long run. Because it’s at the moment offered, the album retains wavering between these two poles, however Jepsen makes certain to remind us we’re all in it collectively.
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