Carly Rae Jepsen Turns Love, Longing, and Life Into a Two-Part Pop Reverie on 'Day and Night' Double Album: Album Review
Stand-out tracks: “After All” “Versailles” “Soft” / “Never Let a Good Thing Die” “You Don’t Know How It Feels” “Super Sage”
Our favorites: “On Wires” “Burning Heart” “Good Fine Alright” / “Amalfi Coast” “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” “Near or Far”
Release date: September 18, 2026
Record label: Interscope Records
For fans of: Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Lorde
Carly Rae Jepsen is one of those pop stars that pursues pop music unconventionally. She isn’t chasing a hit, she isn’t trying to make a statement, she’s solely trying to make a story of love and her sugary-sweet voice pop over an easy-listening beat. Day and Night, released September 18 on Interscope Records, is ambitious in its conception, featuring 24-tracks spanning over 84 minutes of music. With twelve tracks that represent “day” and another twelve that represent “night,” Jepsen masterfully taps into both the soft, psychedelic pop she’s dabbled in over her last few projects and the sleek, sexy dance pop that solidified her as more than a one-hit wonder.
She’s also an artist who works in pairs, turning out B-sides and companion albums during each of her last three eras of music. But this time, Jepsen finally packaged the full project together and released it all at once, and at its core, Day and Night is an ode to simplicity. The simplicity of joy, of music, of family, of success, of heartbreak.
Carly Rae Jepsen has always been perfectly relatable, relaxing into her style of pop without the command of so many pop stars. With “After All,” Jepsen previews the simple concept of Day and Night in the opener’s chorus: “I am yours, you are mine, nothing complicated / After hours, every night, even after all.” The Day side of the album captures moments like how love can be captured by a vintage polaroid camera and a wide-open sunny field: simple, human, slightly blurred around the edges, sometimes miraculous while other times incredibly conventional. “Habits of Creatures,” “Blue Skies,” “Good Fine Alright” - every song is another journal entry in Carly Rae Jepsen’s ever-expanding pop diary of pining.
By the time “Never Let a Good Thing Die” opens the Night side of the album, Jepsen has truly found her footing. With a jazz-influenced nightclub tone and a glistening, reverbed outro, the love she sang of across the Day album turns more passionate and more dazzling. The intimacy of the earlier tracks gives way to something brighter and more intoxicating, as Jepsen continues to whirl through a world of glamour and crisp beats that would have found a home on her 2015 album EMOTION.
“Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” grooves parallel to the sonic of ABBA, while “Motivation” once again places Carly Rae Jepsen in a league of her own, romanticizing motherhood as a dance through life of its own. “Hold Me to the Light” sparkles with something almost Bossa Nova-like as she forgives herself for mistakes of the past.
The back half of the Night side blurs together quite a bit, almost mirroring the dizzying loss of consciousness as the night gets longer. The songs shimmer and move with an infectious momentum, though their similarities occasionally soften the distinction between one track and the next. Still, upon arrival at the closing duo of “No Labels, I Love You” and “Super Sage,” Jepsen’s message is clear: she’s infatuated with love, and all the outside noise is just a distraction.
Overall, Day and Night is a joyous experimental trip, an infectious immersion into Carly Rae Jepsen’s world of bliss: a place where nothing really matters but pop music and love. Across its 24 tracks, Jepsen finds magic in simplicity, proving that sometimes the most enduring stories are the ones that ask for nothing more than a little music, a little longing, and someone to love.
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