Dedicated(Carly Rae Jepsen album)

Dedicated
Studio albumby Carly Rae Jepsen
Released	May 17, 2019(2019-05-17)
Recorded	2016–2019
Studio	Neon Garden (Maderas Village) Rodeo Recording (Santa Monica) The Village Studios (Los Angeles) Captain Cuts Studio (Los Angeles) Rough Customer (Brooklyn) Studio America (Los Angeles) Hope Studios (Silver Lake) 145 House (Sherman Oaks) Comic Sands (Los Angeles) Westlake Studios (Los Angeles) Patrik's House (Stockholm) Dogghouse Studios (Stockholm)
Genre	Pop electropop synth-pop disco dance-pop
Length	42:23
Label	604 Schoolboy Interscope
Producer	Jim Alxndr Jack Antonoff Ayokay CJ Baran Patrik Berger Noah Breakfast Captain Cuts Rogét Chahayed Tommy English James Flannigan John Hill Alex Hope Koz Jordan Palmer Kyle Shearer Benjamin Romans Anton "HighTower" Rundberg Asa Taccone Pontus Winnberg
Carly Rae Jepsenchronology
Emotion: Side B (2016) Dedicated (2019) Dedicated Side B (2020)
SinglesfromDedicated
"Party for One" Released: November 1, 2018 "Now That I Found You" Released: February 27, 2019 "No Drug Like Me" Released: February 27, 2019 "Julien" Released: April 19, 2019 "Too Much" Released: May 9, 2019

Dedicatedis the fourthstudio albumby Canadian singerCarly Rae Jepsen.It was released on May 17, 2019, by604 Recordsin Canada, andSchool BoyandInterscope Recordsin the United States. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Party for One","Now That I Found You","No Drug Like Me","Julien",and"Too Much".To support the album Jepsen embarked onThe Dedicated Tourwith dates in Europe, North America and Asia. A companion album,Dedicated Side B,featuring outtakes fromDedicated,was released just over a year later on May 21, 2020.

The album received positive reviews and debuted at number 18 in the US, becoming her third top-twenty album. The album also peaked inside the top 20 in Jepsen's home country, at number 16 on theCanadian Albums Chartand at number 17 on theScottish Albums Chart.Dedicatedwas named in many year-end lists of best albums of 2019.

Background

In April 2016, Jepsen spoke toStereogumthat she was eager to work on new music, hoping to halve the production time consumed by her previous record. She cited a stroke of inspiration that wasn't apparent when development on her third studio albumEmotion(2015) began, which ultimately took three years to produce as Jepsen sought creative control and an evolution in sound. She aimed to release new music by the next year.

Work on her fourth studio album commenced in June 2016, where she traveled to Sweden on the first of four trips.Frameworking the project was the notion of how music is consumed in her own life, "which is sometimes a little more homestyle, dance parties in the living room with your friends."Her relationship with photographer David Larkins came to an end during the same trip, which prompted Jepsen to explore the melancholy that pervaded her life:

"I think the album goes through that process of like, 'Shit, what do I do now?' And, at the same time, singlehood for the first time in a while, which I'm kind of new at! So there was an arc of like, full-on heartbreak to a new story. I think I do pull a lot of inspiration from the complexities of relationships in all of its phases. It was a real painful thing in my life, but a real helpful thing for being inspired."

Jepsen described producerJohn Hill,whom she met further along in the process, as being a "hero on this project, in terms of hisproductionseeming really fresh to me and kind of dark in their tastes, and so it was fun to have thesefalsetto,almost more soft toplines on top of the dark production. "Other contributors to the album includeJack Antonoff,Noonie Bao,Pontus Winnberg ofBloodshy & AvantandCaptain Cuts.Early in development, Jepsen was particularly looking forward to meeting Patrik Berger, being a fan of his work on Swedish singerRobyn's 2010 single "Dancing On My Own".

Writing and development

Mariah Carey(pictured) was cited as a major influence on the creation of "Automatically In Love".

Under the working title ofMusic to Clean Your House To,Jepsen conceived the album as "an understateddisco,living room dance party thing ", an inclination that arose from digging intoABBA's back catalogue. These influences from the'70s era,namelyDonna Summerand theBee Gees,were channeled into an incarnation of the project titledDisco Sweat.It was shelved as Berger advised her against working too rigidly, Jepsen expressing, "You might be shooting yourself in the foot and limiting where you can go." She further explained:

"When I showed up with that mission statement that was so pigeonholed, it really wasn't helping the writing process. It was fun to get a few songs that landed naturally in that zone — I think 'Julien' was the most understated disco song that made the album — but I think it was Patrik [Berger] who said, 'It'll be much more fun if you just allow yourself to play in all directions.' I knew at that time that I was gonna take a beat with this thing, so it felt like the right move to just experiment. "

By May 2019, Jepsen had written "nearly 200 songs" for the album.

Music and lyrics

Dedicatedis a "collection of forward-thinking"pop,electropop,synth-pop,discoanddance-popsongs inspired by music from the1980sand1990swith elements ofhouseandR&B.Its lyrics span themes of "crushing hard, havinganxietyabout a new relationship, experiencing true lovesickness, breaking up, and finally coming to terms with being alone ".

Promotion

Jepsen during herThe Dedicated Tour.

"Party for One"was released as thelead singleon November 1, 2018.On February 27, 2019, "Now That I Found You"and"No Drug Like Me"were issued as adouble A-sidesingle."Now That I Found You" was written at a writing camp in Nicaragua.A music video for "Now That I Found You" was released on March 14, 2019.On March 31, 2019, Jepsen teased an upcoming announcement on her social media accounts.On April 1, 2019, the title and release date forDedicatedwere announced, along with US dates forThe Dedicated Tour.On April 17, 2019, Jepsen revealed the album's track listing andcover.The album was made available topre-orderon April 19, 2019, along with the fourth single "Julien"."Julien" was written atMaderasVillage, Nicaragua in August 2016.

"Too Much"was released as the album's fifth and final single on May 9, 2019.Its music video was released on May 17, 2019.On June 28, Jepsen released aMansionairremixof "No Drug Like Me" as apromotional singleto mark the launch of the North American leg ofThe Dedicated Tour.On September 19, 2019, a video for the album's fourth track, "Want You in My Room",was uploaded to Jepsen's YouTube channel.A live version of the song recorded atElectric Lady StudiosinNew York Citywas released as a single on October 2, 2019, exclusively onSpotifyalongside a cover ofNo Doubt's "Don't Speak"as aB-side.On October 18, 2019, a live video for the album's ninth track, "The Sound", was uploaded to YouTube.Jepsen and the band performed on a dock in a lake in Finland.MTVcalled the performance "adorably autumnal and simply sublime".The recording was also released on digital retailers as a promotional single.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.4/10
Metacritic	79/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Consequence of Sound	B
Exclaim!	8/10
The Guardian
The Independent
The Irish Times
NME
Pitchfork	7.3/10
Rolling Stone
The Times

Dedicatedreceived generally positive reviews from music critics; aggregating websiteMetacriticreports a normalized rating of 79, based on 22 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reviewing the album forAllMusic,Heather Phares gave a rating of four and a half stars out of five, writing that "Jepsen is just as committed to her music as she is to the ideal of true love, and the way she's grown without sacrificing her uniqueness makesDedicateda master class in what a2010spop album can be. "Laura Snapes ofThe Guardiangave a rating of four stars out of five, stating that "[Jepsen] belts less, but leaves a stronger impression: swooning into the gentlyfunky'Julien'; seductively in control on the looser 'No Drug Like Me'; cheeky asCyndi Lauperon 'Want You in My Room'. "Giving a rating of four stars out of five, Elisa Bray ofThe IndependentdescribesDedicatedas "an album of polished pop" that "perhaps... will put [Jepsen] at the top where she belongs."

Year-end lists

Dedicatedon year-end lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Albumism	50 Best Albums of 2019	10
The Atlantic	The 18 Best Albums of 2019	—
Billboard	The 50 Best Albums of 2019	20
CBC Music	Top 19 Canadian Albums of 2019	2
Exclaim!	20 Best Pop and Rock Albums of 2019	19
Flood	The 25 Best Albums of 2019	20
GQ	The Best Albums of 2019	—
NPR	The 20 Top Albums of 2019	19
Paste	The 50 Best Albums of 2019	7
The Skinny	Top 20 Albums of 2019 So Far	10
Slant Magazine	The 25 Best of Albums of 2019	5
Variety	The Best Albums of 2019	10
Uproxx	The Best Albums of 2019	8

Commercial performance

Dedicateddebuted at number 16 in Canada. In the United States, the album debuted at number 18 on the USBillboard 200,selling 21,000 album-equivalent units, of which 13,000 were pure sales.In the UK, it debuted at number 26. In Japan, the album debuted at number 28.

Track listing

Dedicatedtrack listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Julien"	Carly Rae Jepsen Kyle Shearer Nate Cyphert Benjamin Ruttner Jared Manierka	Shearer	3:54
2.	"No Drug Like Me"	Jepsen John Hill Jordan Palmer Daniel Ledinsky James Flannigan	Hill Palmer	3:28
3.	"Now That I Found You"	Jepsen Ben Berger Ryan McMahon Ryan Rabin Alexander O'Neill	Captain Cuts Ayokay[a]	3:20
4.	"Want You in My Room"	Jepsen Jack Antonoff Tavish Crowe	Antonoff	2:46
5.	"Everything He Needs"	Jepsen Harry Nilsson Christopher Baran Ben Romans Amanda Warner	Baran Romans	3:38
6.	"Happy Not Knowing"	Jepsen Hill Palmer Crowe Ledinsky	Hill Palmer[c]	2:41
7.	"I'll Be Your Girl"	Jepsen Hill Patrik Berger	Hill Berger	2:58
8.	"Too Much"	Jepsen Hill Palmer Noonie Bao	Hill Palmer[b] Rob Cohen[d]	3:17
9.	"The Sound"	Jepsen Tommy English Noah Beresin Manierka	English Breakfast	2:51
10.	"Automatically in Love"	Jepsen Hill Rogét Chahayed Nate Campany	Hill Chahayed Cohen[d]	3:33
11.	"Feels Right" (featuringElectric Guest)	Jepsen Hill Palmer Asa Taccone Matthew Compton	Hill Taccone Palmer[c]	2:43
12.	"Right Words Wrong Time"	Jepsen Alex Hope Chahayed	Hope[c] Chahayed	3:20
13.	"Real Love"	Jepsen Flannigan Chris Whitehall	Flannigan[c] Koz[a] Jim Alxndr[a] Daniel Zaidenstadt[d]	3:54
Total length:				42:23

USTarget,international physical deluxe and worldwide digital edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"For Sure"	Jepsen Berger Bao Pontus Winnberg	Berger Winnberg	3:04
15.	"Party for One"	Jepsen Anton Rundberg Julia Karlsson Crowe	Captain Cuts Hightower Karlsson[d]	3:03
Total length:				48:30

Japanese bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Now That I Found You" (Until Dawn remix)	5:23
17.	"Party for One" (More Giraffes remix)	2:46
Total length:		56:39

• "Everything He Needs" contains portions of "He Needs Me" byHarry Nilsson
• ^{^[a]}signifies an additional producer
• ^{^[b]}signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[c]}signifies a producer and vocal producer
• ^{^[d]}signifies a vocal producer

Personnel

Credits taken from the album's liner notes.

Performance

• Carly Rae Jepsen– lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (track 15)
• Kyle Shearer – instruments (track 1)
• Nate Cyphert – background vocals (track 1)
• John Hill– guitar (track 2, 6–8, 11), keyboards (track 2, 6, 8, 10–11), synth (track 6–8), drums (track 6–8), percussion (track 6, 8), bass (track 6, 8, 11), programming (track 6–8, 10), horns (track 11)
• Jordan Palmer – guitar (track 2, 6, 8), keyboards (track 2, 6, 8, 11), bass (track 2, 6, 8), drums (track 2, 6, 8, 11), synthesizer (track 2, 6, 8), percussion (track 6, 8), programming (track 6, 8, 11)
• Captain Cuts– background vocals (track 3), keyboards, drums, programming, instrumentation (track 15)
• Jack Antonoff– instruments, programming (track 4)
• Ben Romans– keys (track 5)
• Amanda Warner– bass (track 5)
• CJ Baran– programming (track 5)
• Patrik Berger – bass, guitar, drums (track 7), instruments, programming (track 14)
• James King– saxophone (track 7)
• Noah Beresin– piano (track 9)
• Rogét Chahayed– bass (track 10), keyboards (track 10, 12), programming (track 12)
• Electric Guest– featured vocals, piano, keyboards, percussion, guitar (track 11)
• Alex Hope– programming, keyboards (track 12)
• James Flannigan– programming (track 13)
• Koz Alxndr– additional programming (track 13)
• Jim Alxndr – additional programming, saxophone (track 13)
• Noonie Bao– background vocals (track 14)
• Pontus Winnberg– instruments, programming (track 14)
• Julia Karlsson – background vocals (track 15)
• Hightower – keyboards, drums, programming, instrumentation (track 15)

Technical

• Serban Ghenea– mixing (tracks 1–4, 14–15)
• John Hanes – engineering (tracks 1–4, 14–15)
• Gene Grimaldi – mastering (tracks 1, 4–6, 8–9, 11–14)
• Rob Cohen – engineering (tracks 2, 6–8, 10)
• Chris Gehringer– mastering (tracks 2, 7, 10)
• Captain Cuts– engineering (track 3), arrangement (track 15)
• Dave Kutch – mastering (track 3)
• Laura Sisk – engineering (track 4)
• Mitch McCarthy – mixing (tracks 5, 11)
• CJ Baran– engineering (track 5)
• Jon Castelli – mixing (tracks 6–8, 10)
• Ingmar Carlson – engineering for mix (tracks 6–8, 10)
• Blake Mares – engineering (tracks 6–8, 10–11)
• Tony Maserati– mixing (track 9)
• Miles Comaskey – assistant mix engineering (track 9)
• Josh Gudwin – mixing (track 12)
• Elijah Merritt-Hitch – assistant mixing (track 12)
• Hightower – arrangement (track 15)

Charts

Chart performance forDedicated

Chart (2019)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	33
Canadian Albums(Billboard)	16
France Download Albums (SNEP)	31
Irish Albums (IRMA)	39
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	34
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	32
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	40
Scottish Albums(OCC)	17
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	71
UK Albums(OCC)	26
USBillboard200	18
USTop Tastemaker Albums(Billboard)	7

Release history

List of regions, release dates, showing formats, label, editions and references

Region	Date	Formats	Editions	Label	Ref.
Various	May 17, 2019	CD digital download streaming	Standard deluxe	604 School Boy Interscope
	June 12, 2019	LP	Standard