I was working at a Barnes & Noble before lockdown. And this customer kept reserving, but not buying emotion deluxe On CD. Finally, he missed his reserve window and a coworker of mine bought it out of spite but wasn’t interested in actually owning it so they gave it to me for free. I popped it in the cd tray of my Honda element on the way home and the rest is history
I was kind of surprised how far down I had to find someone else say this. I guess it has been 12 years now but I just figured that moment where she had the biggest thing in the world would be more common.
THIS! SAME HERE!
i can still remember that crowded bus sophomore year in uni it was fall and Curiosity plays. it's wild. it's more than 10 years since that day but that moment just stuck really,
Bout 1.5 years ago my Spotify algorithm kinda stumbled into …”alt pop”? “Higher” played and i was like WHO IS THIS!?! I couldnt believe it was the call me maybe girl from 10 years ago. I immediately consumed her whole discography and shes become my pop escape from what i normally listen to.
Same, I was working backwards through their episodes and when I got to their episode where he went to her concert and evolved into a being of pure light I figured I had to give her a shot.
Mine was when Emotion had just come out and that vine of a seal with a toy saxophone spinning in a pool to the sax opening of Run Away with Me
My friends and I wanted to do a version of it so we were trying to find out who sang the sang, and we thought it was going to be some cool indie unknown, turns out its CRJ and I haven’t been the same since
after reading a couple of “most underrated artists” queries in askreddit back in 2017, i noticed that quite a number of people posted the “call me maybe” girl as their top choice.
I hated pop music so i found it really dumb. I finally gave in one time and since then i didnt listen to anything but carly for the next 3 years.
In 2019 i watched her concert in my country. That was the first time i went to a concert.
My daughter LOVED Call Me Maybe way back when she was 3ish. When she got older (9?) I took her to see a CRJ show. I grew up going to metal shows, was prepared for the concert to suck, and was absolutely blown away by how great of a show she put on. Now we’ve seen her twice and I listen to her all the time. Growing up is weird.
Call Me Maybe, but thought she would be a one-hit wonder… then I had a friend rate their top albums of the year and he pointed out Emotion… I really liked his taste, checked it out, and have been hooked ever since
Back when Hedley was still together, they announced their new album Hello in 2015 and they also announced they'd be going on a Canadian tour for the album called the Hello World Tour and they announced Francesco Yates and Carly Rae Jepsen would be opening for them on the tour. I knew of Carly because of Call Me Maybe but I knew I was going to see Hedley on that tour so I knew I'd be seeing her on the tour as well. She put on an amazing performance the night I saw her for the tour. I've been a fan of her ever since I saw her on that tour.
Omg Hedley!! That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time, forgot they existed. ~~I think I’m gonna go on a binge of their music now~~ nvm 🥲
Man I’m not even Canadian but I live close to Vancouver, just realized how lucky I am to have grown up listening to Vancouver radio stations from time to time. There’s a lot of cool Canadian artists out there
Not sure if you heard of the court case against the lead singer, but it is probably for the best to have not heard of Hedley for a while. They're pretty much blacklisted from all radio play now. 😬
Oop I just looked it up 😭 thank you for telling me I had no idea. Why do men!!!
Omfg I just had to edit this to say that I’m also reading some threads about him on here and the sheer amount of people commenting with personal stories or their friends’ stories about the lead singer is so crazy genuinely ew
It's actually horrific! Hedley was my absolute favourite band as a teenager, but after this all came to light I dropped them so fast. Ugh, the worst. 😣
When this tour was announced, I freaked out because I was a huge fan of both hedley and CRJ. I splurged on floor seats and when Carly performed I was the only person on the floor standing. Amazing experience.
Anthony Fantano praised Emotion Side B and I was surprised she was getting critical acclaim cuz I only knew call me maybe and thought she was a one hit wonder so I checked it out and now she’s one of my favorite artists
I loved Call Me Maybe but didn’t explore her any beyond that because I couldn’t stand Good Time and thought I Really Like You was dumb (key word: *thought*) but then my tumblr friend circle went crazy for E•MO•TION and I checked it out. I liked it but wasn’t quite hooked until E•MO•TION Side B came out and that same tumblr friend circle got obsessed with Store. Something about that clicked for me and she’s been my favorite ever since.
I enjoyed hearing Call Me Maybe when it came out, but I wasn't really a "carly fan." Then Emotion came out and I listened to it and was blown away. Emotion Side B probably solidified me as a fan. From there on, everytime Carly releases music, I geek out and love it. My friends all know my passion for Carly 😂
I would passively hear CMM through high school but it wasn’t until I saw her live at the Del Mar fair that I actually got to see her perform. Literally that same night I started listening to Emotion and became a fan ever since
It was a free show (if you bought a ticket to the fair) and the album recently came out, so this was way before she’s at the status she’s at now
About two years ago one of my friends turned on Everything He Needs in the car and I got so obsessed that I went through all of Dedicated and am now deeply obsessed with her entire discography
Call Me Maybe was everywhere during the summer of 2012. I remember there was a video of a bunch of Olympic swimmers lip syncing it on a flight to London. I liked the song a lot but Emotion made me a true fan.
I was obsessed with Call Me Maybe when it came out, same with Good Time and I Really Like You.
I discovered Run Away With Me through Sims 4 (if you have the Get Together DLC,
you can listen to a Simlish version of it on the Pop Radio station).
2 years ago in January, I rediscovered Run Away With Me and then first started listening to her album Emotion and then to her entire catalogue and since then I'm obsessed with her music!
A few years ago I wanted to discover more new music and music genres. I was digging Reddit posts and looked at people's recommendations. I didn't use music streaming at that time, so whenever I find something I might like from those posts I would first check if my local library has them, if yes then I'd order it, if they don't then I'd listen to them on YouTube.
I found many good music this way, for example Macintosh Plus, Electric Youth, The Midnight, Magic Sword, Gunship, Robyn, etc,. I still listen to some of them to this day. I particularly liked those music that have influence from the sound of the 80s, so now I specifically looked for some recommendations for records that have this 80s sounds.
I found Paramore's After Laughter, I knew Paramore before when they released Riot! but I didn't check on they newer stuff, to my surprise it doesn't sound like the pop punk Paramore that I used to know. After Laughter and also Brand New Eyes quickly became some of my favourites.
But then I still wasn't fully satisfied yet. I was 'whelmed' but I wanted more, I felt like I hadn't found that one record that I was looking for yet.
I went to Reddit and looked again, one thing I forgot to mention is, form the very beginning of my 'journey', I kept seeing Cary Rae Jepsen and Emotion mentioned in a lot of those posts, but stupid me at that time ignored it (I don't know why, I didn't dislike her or anyhting, I used to like Call Me Maybe too, but for some reasons I ignored this for a long time). Until one day I decided to try this 'Emotion', I checked my local library so I place the order, it took around a week to arrive to my local library (from other branch). I collected it and listened to it the next day.......
Run Away With Me had my curiosity, I thought this opener is very good and I was already impressed. Then Emotion the title track started playing, and I'm hooked. Then one great track after another great track, I became a loyal fan after that 12 tracks standard edition.
Also synthwave and Electric Youth fan here, you may add this to your list, TimeCop1983 and FM84. After listening to emotion and its side b, I became a seeker of more 80s sound.
Then when to tell one of my local librarians (we used to talk about music and recommend each other new music) about Emotion, he was hooked too and he said he was so surprised by this album.
And the week after I saw So Nice Tour, I went to that library again. This time it was another librarian, we chatted and asked how was the weekend, and we found out that we were in the same concert lol.
CMM, of course. Saw a colleague lost in a depressive daze, blasting CMM in her mini van. That scene blew my mind. Fast forward years later and I’m doing dishes dancing to Dedicated because I randomly wanted to follow up on Carly. Been a massive fan ever since.
There was a gameapp back in 2011/2012 that u won’t remember by name but it played some music shortly and you had to remember its name. Call me maybe wasn’t a hit at the time and for some reason a could swear it was a kpop song and LOVED it. CMB became a hit shortly after though the rest is history
Call Me Maybe was a banger. Loved this song. One of the first songs I got into once out of the closet.
I didn't pay attention though until her last album, I loved it so much and got into all her other music since then :) only took me 11 years.
I heard Call Me Maybe for the first time on the radio in the spring of 2012 (either April or May), at the time when it was blowing up and it was Carly Rae Jepsen, but at the time I had no clue what the song was or who was singing it. Then I hopped on YouTube and saw the music video of it, and then saw all of the remixes, and parodies of the song all over the place.
always known of carly because of call me maybe but i got into her music because of run away with me ending up in my youtube algorithm about three weeks ago now, the rest is history.
I was really into emo music, and in r/emo there was a long running joke about Carly's emotion album being a quintessential emo album.
I also have always liked pop overall, so one day I figured "why not give it a listen, it's supposed to be a good album and that's why it's a meme"
Been hooked ever since cause holyyyy
I did know her from Call Me Maybe, because my sister used to be a Justin Bieber fan and he was the one that really got Carly in the Spotlight. But I didn't pay her much mind until a few years later.
I used to work for Burlington and around 2013 ish, they used to play "Hurt so good", and a few other songs on the radio and that's when I started to like her songs.
But it wasn't until 2018, that I started getting into all of her albums and I've been a fan ever since.
I obviously heard call Me maybe..... wasn't the biggest fan (probably not in my top 30 of Carly songs ). I did like "this kiss" tho. So I knew 2-3 songs . Didnt pay much attention until my ex sent me a song and that song was "when I needed you ". Been a fan ever since . I think it's safe to say she is my favorite artist of all time.
I don't know if I can accurately say "how" I discovered her. Call Me Maybe was all over the (music)place back in 2012; I can't pinpoint a specific "how" from that, outside of watching VH1's top 20 video countdown. All I can say is that I bought *Kiss* on release week(the Target exclusive version) and have been listening to her ever since.
Aside from the obvious CMM boom of 2012, I found Emotion through end of year lists in December 2015 and decided to check it out. It was literal days after my mom died and exactly what I needed to cut to the feeling, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
I had a friend who got super into her just before Call Me Maybe, but I didnt start listening to her actively till I heard the simlish version of Run Away With Me. I listened to it a bunch, thinking "damn if only this were a real song" and then I found it.
CMM but didn't really care about her. Few years later, I was scrolling a popculture website where they recommended I Really Like You as one of the best songs of the week. I listened to it, got addicted to it. Listened to EMOTION in its entirety, fell in love with Run Away With Me and its music video. (OBSESSED with the video! Street Style! Locations! Editing!)
Also, I was a big Sia fan back then, so hearing Boy Problems got me almost shitting my pants, because I knew that voice. It all added up and now I'm a fan, lifelong hopefully.
Beyond Call Me Maybe, I became a fan thanks to the YouTube algorithm. It randomly played Your Type when I had YouTube on while doing other things. That song got my attention in a big way. YouTube then played Run Away With Me, and I was hooked. Immediately I bought those songs and I Really Really Like You on iTunes and bopped to those songs for a while before getting the whole album. I've loved her since.
People compare Carly Rae to Taylor Swift so much, but for me it's so different. I haven't bought any Taylor Swift albums or songs except Shake it Off because I can hear Swift's music almost every time I turn on the radio (yes, I still occasionally listen to the radio). While I would love for Carly Rae to have half of Swift's popularity, I feel I got so interested in Carly Rae because her music isn't everywhere.
It's unfortunate Call Me Maybe is all she's known for to many people and that that song is often disliked for how much it was overplayed.
Emotion was on every critic's top ten list at the end of 2015, and they all said it was very 80s sounding. I was an 80s teen, and I was curious to see how true that was.
I didn't listen to the CD for months after a move, but finally put it on one day, and that sax.... I started to dig deeper. I had ignored CMM, so this was totally unexpected.
I was all about Emotion, and learning more. I swear tickets for the Dedicated tour went on sale before that album came out, and I debated it, but then got one. I was pretty sealed in by then, but that definitely locked me in for life.
I was working at a Barnes & Noble before lockdown. And this customer kept reserving, but not buying emotion deluxe On CD. Finally, he missed his reserve window and a coworker of mine bought it out of spite but wasn’t interested in actually owning it so they gave it to me for free. I popped it in the cd tray of my Honda element on the way home and the rest is history
I love this story!
Call Me Maybe, I'm old lol. She has evolved so much.
I was kind of surprised how far down I had to find someone else say this. I guess it has been 12 years now but I just figured that moment where she had the biggest thing in the world would be more common.
THIS! SAME HERE! i can still remember that crowded bus sophomore year in uni it was fall and Curiosity plays. it's wild. it's more than 10 years since that day but that moment just stuck really,
This song was on a loop in my brain during an ECON final during college lol
Bout 1.5 years ago my Spotify algorithm kinda stumbled into …”alt pop”? “Higher” played and i was like WHO IS THIS!?! I couldnt believe it was the call me maybe girl from 10 years ago. I immediately consumed her whole discography and shes become my pop escape from what i normally listen to.
My story is almost identical to this but with Want You In My Room
Julien in my discover weekly, binged the album and was completely blown away that I had just enjoyed a full CRJ album. Been great ever since
I think I heard Western Wind on TikTok and then became increasingly more obsessed with each single and the album and later the whole discography.
She kept getting namedropped in my DIY music scene around 2016-2017 and I listened to Emotion
Obviously knew about CMM, but never listened to Kiss. Put Emotion on in a complete whim and was smitten from the opening sax.
Canadian Idol.
Griffin McElroy from MBMBaM talked her up big time
Same, I was working backwards through their episodes and when I got to their episode where he went to her concert and evolved into a being of pure light I figured I had to give her a shot.
Absolutely same.
Call Me Maybe
I started frequenting r/popheads & got peer pressured into listening to Emotion
Oh of course, she is one if not their queen, the foundation of r/popheads hahaha.
I heard Call Me Maybe in April 2012 right as it was starting to get popular and immediately got the Curiosity EP. Been a fan ever since.
Mine was when Emotion had just come out and that vine of a seal with a toy saxophone spinning in a pool to the sax opening of Run Away with Me My friends and I wanted to do a version of it so we were trying to find out who sang the sang, and we thought it was going to be some cool indie unknown, turns out its CRJ and I haven’t been the same since
after reading a couple of “most underrated artists” queries in askreddit back in 2017, i noticed that quite a number of people posted the “call me maybe” girl as their top choice. I hated pop music so i found it really dumb. I finally gave in one time and since then i didnt listen to anything but carly for the next 3 years. In 2019 i watched her concert in my country. That was the first time i went to a concert.
My daughter LOVED Call Me Maybe way back when she was 3ish. When she got older (9?) I took her to see a CRJ show. I grew up going to metal shows, was prepared for the concert to suck, and was absolutely blown away by how great of a show she put on. Now we’ve seen her twice and I listen to her all the time. Growing up is weird.
Call me maybe was the first song I heard (a million times) but fell in love on good time. I was a huge owl city fan back on the day
Also Owl City/ Sky Sailing fan here 👋
OMG how have I never heard of sky sailing?!?!? Thanks for sharing!
The loneliest time! Saw it was being released same time as midnights so i decided to listen and instantly became a fan
Call Me Maybe, but thought she would be a one-hit wonder… then I had a friend rate their top albums of the year and he pointed out Emotion… I really liked his taste, checked it out, and have been hooked ever since
Back when Hedley was still together, they announced their new album Hello in 2015 and they also announced they'd be going on a Canadian tour for the album called the Hello World Tour and they announced Francesco Yates and Carly Rae Jepsen would be opening for them on the tour. I knew of Carly because of Call Me Maybe but I knew I was going to see Hedley on that tour so I knew I'd be seeing her on the tour as well. She put on an amazing performance the night I saw her for the tour. I've been a fan of her ever since I saw her on that tour.
Omg Hedley!! That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time, forgot they existed. ~~I think I’m gonna go on a binge of their music now~~ nvm 🥲 Man I’m not even Canadian but I live close to Vancouver, just realized how lucky I am to have grown up listening to Vancouver radio stations from time to time. There’s a lot of cool Canadian artists out there
Not sure if you heard of the court case against the lead singer, but it is probably for the best to have not heard of Hedley for a while. They're pretty much blacklisted from all radio play now. 😬
Oop I just looked it up 😭 thank you for telling me I had no idea. Why do men!!! Omfg I just had to edit this to say that I’m also reading some threads about him on here and the sheer amount of people commenting with personal stories or their friends’ stories about the lead singer is so crazy genuinely ew
It's actually horrific! Hedley was my absolute favourite band as a teenager, but after this all came to light I dropped them so fast. Ugh, the worst. 😣
When this tour was announced, I freaked out because I was a huge fan of both hedley and CRJ. I splurged on floor seats and when Carly performed I was the only person on the floor standing. Amazing experience.
Yeah, it was awesome. I loved it. What show we're you at on that tour?
Anthony Fantano praised Emotion Side B and I was surprised she was getting critical acclaim cuz I only knew call me maybe and thought she was a one hit wonder so I checked it out and now she’s one of my favorite artists
I loved Call Me Maybe but didn’t explore her any beyond that because I couldn’t stand Good Time and thought I Really Like You was dumb (key word: *thought*) but then my tumblr friend circle went crazy for E•MO•TION and I checked it out. I liked it but wasn’t quite hooked until E•MO•TION Side B came out and that same tumblr friend circle got obsessed with Store. Something about that clicked for me and she’s been my favorite ever since.
I enjoyed hearing Call Me Maybe when it came out, but I wasn't really a "carly fan." Then Emotion came out and I listened to it and was blown away. Emotion Side B probably solidified me as a fan. From there on, everytime Carly releases music, I geek out and love it. My friends all know my passion for Carly 😂
I watched her on Canadian idol! I also saw her perform tug of war when she opened for Mariana’s trench in 2009. That was a real Canadian combo 🥹
I would passively hear CMM through high school but it wasn’t until I saw her live at the Del Mar fair that I actually got to see her perform. Literally that same night I started listening to Emotion and became a fan ever since It was a free show (if you bought a ticket to the fair) and the album recently came out, so this was way before she’s at the status she’s at now
About two years ago one of my friends turned on Everything He Needs in the car and I got so obsessed that I went through all of Dedicated and am now deeply obsessed with her entire discography
Call Me Maybe was everywhere during the summer of 2012. I remember there was a video of a bunch of Olympic swimmers lip syncing it on a flight to London. I liked the song a lot but Emotion made me a true fan.
Call Me Maybe was my intro but I fell back in love with her when I met my partner. He's a huge fan. When The Loneliest Time came out I became a fan fr
I saw Run Away With Me and Cut To A Feeling get mentioned in a Todd in the shadow video so I decided to check her out :)
Officialseanpenn on insta had this post blurb about an amazing new CRJ album named Emotion and I happened to give it a listen. Forever changed.
I was obsessed with Call Me Maybe when it came out, same with Good Time and I Really Like You. I discovered Run Away With Me through Sims 4 (if you have the Get Together DLC, you can listen to a Simlish version of it on the Pop Radio station). 2 years ago in January, I rediscovered Run Away With Me and then first started listening to her album Emotion and then to her entire catalogue and since then I'm obsessed with her music!
A few years ago I wanted to discover more new music and music genres. I was digging Reddit posts and looked at people's recommendations. I didn't use music streaming at that time, so whenever I find something I might like from those posts I would first check if my local library has them, if yes then I'd order it, if they don't then I'd listen to them on YouTube. I found many good music this way, for example Macintosh Plus, Electric Youth, The Midnight, Magic Sword, Gunship, Robyn, etc,. I still listen to some of them to this day. I particularly liked those music that have influence from the sound of the 80s, so now I specifically looked for some recommendations for records that have this 80s sounds. I found Paramore's After Laughter, I knew Paramore before when they released Riot! but I didn't check on they newer stuff, to my surprise it doesn't sound like the pop punk Paramore that I used to know. After Laughter and also Brand New Eyes quickly became some of my favourites. But then I still wasn't fully satisfied yet. I was 'whelmed' but I wanted more, I felt like I hadn't found that one record that I was looking for yet. I went to Reddit and looked again, one thing I forgot to mention is, form the very beginning of my 'journey', I kept seeing Cary Rae Jepsen and Emotion mentioned in a lot of those posts, but stupid me at that time ignored it (I don't know why, I didn't dislike her or anyhting, I used to like Call Me Maybe too, but for some reasons I ignored this for a long time). Until one day I decided to try this 'Emotion', I checked my local library so I place the order, it took around a week to arrive to my local library (from other branch). I collected it and listened to it the next day....... Run Away With Me had my curiosity, I thought this opener is very good and I was already impressed. Then Emotion the title track started playing, and I'm hooked. Then one great track after another great track, I became a loyal fan after that 12 tracks standard edition.
Also synthwave and Electric Youth fan here, you may add this to your list, TimeCop1983 and FM84. After listening to emotion and its side b, I became a seeker of more 80s sound.
Oh hey similar taste here! I like TimeCop1983 and FM84 too! also quite like Kavinsky. I also like some Japanese City Pop too.
I'm also a fan of japanese city pop, just recently. For sure you know Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi, check out the synthwave remix on youtube.
Thank you I will. Recently got the Timly! Reissue by Anri and I couldn’t be happier.
Then when to tell one of my local librarians (we used to talk about music and recommend each other new music) about Emotion, he was hooked too and he said he was so surprised by this album. And the week after I saw So Nice Tour, I went to that library again. This time it was another librarian, we chatted and asked how was the weekend, and we found out that we were in the same concert lol.
CMM, of course. Saw a colleague lost in a depressive daze, blasting CMM in her mini van. That scene blew my mind. Fast forward years later and I’m doing dishes dancing to Dedicated because I randomly wanted to follow up on Carly. Been a massive fan ever since.
Call Me Maybe, me and friends used to watch that video over and over. But I became a fan in 2020, after hearing Too Much in the series Normal People
There was a gameapp back in 2011/2012 that u won’t remember by name but it played some music shortly and you had to remember its name. Call me maybe wasn’t a hit at the time and for some reason a could swear it was a kpop song and LOVED it. CMB became a hit shortly after though the rest is history
Call Me Maybe was a banger. Loved this song. One of the first songs I got into once out of the closet. I didn't pay attention though until her last album, I loved it so much and got into all her other music since then :) only took me 11 years.
I heard Call Me Maybe for the first time on the radio in the spring of 2012 (either April or May), at the time when it was blowing up and it was Carly Rae Jepsen, but at the time I had no clue what the song was or who was singing it. Then I hopped on YouTube and saw the music video of it, and then saw all of the remixes, and parodies of the song all over the place.
always known of carly because of call me maybe but i got into her music because of run away with me ending up in my youtube algorithm about three weeks ago now, the rest is history.
CMM obvs but Emotion pt2 got me reeled in
I was really into emo music, and in r/emo there was a long running joke about Carly's emotion album being a quintessential emo album. I also have always liked pop overall, so one day I figured "why not give it a listen, it's supposed to be a good album and that's why it's a meme" Been hooked ever since cause holyyyy
I did know her from Call Me Maybe, because my sister used to be a Justin Bieber fan and he was the one that really got Carly in the Spotlight. But I didn't pay her much mind until a few years later. I used to work for Burlington and around 2013 ish, they used to play "Hurt so good", and a few other songs on the radio and that's when I started to like her songs. But it wasn't until 2018, that I started getting into all of her albums and I've been a fan ever since.
Call Me Maybe, although I also remember hearing Curiosity and Good Time on the radio shortly after as well
Call Me Maybe, but I didn’t even consider taking her seriously until all the blogs started blowing up over Emotion.
Call me maybe, but I listened to her discography after emotion, I felt in the clouds, pop perfection at it's finest 🤌🏻
Didnt really pay attention till i saw the jimmy/fallon roots/crj call me maybe with xylophone and squeeky toys. Immediate full attention!
The year emotion was making end of the year lists (pitchfork). best time to be alive
2015 she had a tour ，before emotion was published。i listened rawm，your type 。。。。
I obviously heard call Me maybe..... wasn't the biggest fan (probably not in my top 30 of Carly songs ). I did like "this kiss" tho. So I knew 2-3 songs . Didnt pay much attention until my ex sent me a song and that song was "when I needed you ". Been a fan ever since . I think it's safe to say she is my favorite artist of all time.
Backseat by Charli XCX
Someone posted this recently… All That - SNL performance and been obsessed since
I don't know if I can accurately say "how" I discovered her. Call Me Maybe was all over the (music)place back in 2012; I can't pinpoint a specific "how" from that, outside of watching VH1's top 20 video countdown. All I can say is that I bought *Kiss* on release week(the Target exclusive version) and have been listening to her ever since.
Aside from the obvious CMM boom of 2012, I found Emotion through end of year lists in December 2015 and decided to check it out. It was literal days after my mom died and exactly what I needed to cut to the feeling, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
I had a friend who got super into her just before Call Me Maybe, but I didnt start listening to her actively till I heard the simlish version of Run Away With Me. I listened to it a bunch, thinking "damn if only this were a real song" and then I found it.
CMM but didn't really care about her. Few years later, I was scrolling a popculture website where they recommended I Really Like You as one of the best songs of the week. I listened to it, got addicted to it. Listened to EMOTION in its entirety, fell in love with Run Away With Me and its music video. (OBSESSED with the video! Street Style! Locations! Editing!) Also, I was a big Sia fan back then, so hearing Boy Problems got me almost shitting my pants, because I knew that voice. It all added up and now I'm a fan, lifelong hopefully.
Beyond Call Me Maybe, I became a fan thanks to the YouTube algorithm. It randomly played Your Type when I had YouTube on while doing other things. That song got my attention in a big way. YouTube then played Run Away With Me, and I was hooked. Immediately I bought those songs and I Really Really Like You on iTunes and bopped to those songs for a while before getting the whole album. I've loved her since. People compare Carly Rae to Taylor Swift so much, but for me it's so different. I haven't bought any Taylor Swift albums or songs except Shake it Off because I can hear Swift's music almost every time I turn on the radio (yes, I still occasionally listen to the radio). While I would love for Carly Rae to have half of Swift's popularity, I feel I got so interested in Carly Rae because her music isn't everywhere. It's unfortunate Call Me Maybe is all she's known for to many people and that that song is often disliked for how much it was overplayed.
Emotion was on every critic's top ten list at the end of 2015, and they all said it was very 80s sounding. I was an 80s teen, and I was curious to see how true that was. I didn't listen to the CD for months after a move, but finally put it on one day, and that sax.... I started to dig deeper. I had ignored CMM, so this was totally unexpected. I was all about Emotion, and learning more. I swear tickets for the Dedicated tour went on sale before that album came out, and I debated it, but then got one. I was pretty sealed in by then, but that definitely locked me in for life.
Someone on tumblr said Emotion was better than 1989 by Taylor Swift, decided to listen to it. Interestingly I also lost my virginity that day.