Carly Rae Jepsen is big in Japan? How big are we talking?

Hiya!

As the title of this VERY FIRST AND VERY REAL blog post suggests, today we will be talking about Carly Rae Jepsen. More specifically, her surprisingly huge impact in Japan- is this shocking (I really hope it’s shocking)?

I’ll be giving you the nuts and bolts of Jepsen’s career in an effort to explore how and why she has such a big market in Japan. I’ll be doing this by comparing data about her album sales and her tours in Japan to her other major markets which are the USA, Canada, and the UK. I’ll also be investigating Carly’s relationship with her Japanese audience as well as looking into Japan's relationship with western artists and music more generally. It should be fun!

Before we get into it, I thought I’d just touch base with anyone who miraculously disappeared or didn’t exist in the year 2012 or really just anyone that is incredibly confused about who I’m talking about, and check that you, as the V.I.R (Very Important Reader) know who Carly Rae Jepsen is. If you didn’t pick up the context clues in the prior paragraphs, Carly Rae Jepsen is a highly successful Canadian Pop singer. She has a discography that includes 7 albums (although I won’t be talking about her latest album ‘The Loveliest Time’ as, at the time of writing, there is quite literally no data about it yet). Her most notable song was 2012’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, with her second biggest song being 2015’s ‘I Really Like You’. Since 2015, her radio charting success has significantly lessened, but her career has still been filled with success, as she has received further critical acclaim (Metacritic) and is currently the 347th most listened to artist on Spotify (Spotify).

Right, so (fingers crossed) that was a brief but satisfying enough insight into the Canadian queen in question- we’ll be talking about her a lot more anyway! With that out the way, we can officially begin our discussion about Carly Rae Jepsen and Japan.

The simplest place to start this discussion is to analyse her album sales. Based on my research, she has sold over 1,775,000 albums, which is already amazing in itself. What makes it even more amazing is that 598,000 of those sales were from Japan. This is more than the USA (475,000), Canada (92,000) and the UK (74,000) - some truly riveting info, am I right? And what’s more, her two most successful albums ‘Kiss’ and ‘Emotion’, which sold 1,257,500 and 332,500 respectively, were her most successful albums due to her Japanese audience. About a third of the album sales for ‘Kiss’ were from Japan (415,000) and around half of the album sales for ‘Emotion’ were from Japan (155,000).

Jepsen herself has, of course, recognised the strength of her Japanese audience. She noted in an interview with ‘The Japan Times’ that she has “a great love and respect for my Japanese fans" and that "Other than Canada, (Japan was) one of the first countries to really embrace me as an artist. When I released (2008's) ‘Tug Of War,’ it was released exclusively in Canada, and then to my surprise and delight, also in Japan.” (Lindsay). So even from the start, Japan stole her heart (that rhymed). Since ‘Kiss’ she has released many Japan exclusive versions of her albums starting with ‘Kiss: The Remix’ then ‘Emotion Remixed +’ (Lindsay) and more recently there was a Japanese exclusive physical edition of her album ‘The Loneliest Time’ (albeit the bonus songs were still released worldwide digitally) (Fandom). One thing to note here about the exclusive physical editions is that it is common practice to have Japan exclusive CDs due to the higher manufacturing costs of CDs there (Wheatley). So, especially with the 'The Loneliest Time' CD, this point could be seen as nothing more than an obligation for her and her team.

Another way that Jepsen shows her love for Japan is through touring. At the time of writing, Carly Rae has experienced four headlining tours being ‘The Summer Kiss Tour’, the ‘Gimmie Love Tour’, ‘The Dedicated Tour’, and most recently ‘The So Nice Tour’. Excluding any other performances or shows she’s done outside her own tours, she’s put on a whopping 210 shows. Naturally, out of the markets we’re looking at,the majority of them were in the US of A (124), and the minority of them were in the UK (13). What’s interesting is that she has toured just as much in Canada as she has in Japan; She has performed 20 times in both Canada and Japan. Could it imply that she prioritises her native country just as much as she does Japan? I think what’s also key to notice is that the amount of shows she’s done in Japan has been consistently around 5-7 shows since the ‘Gimmie Love Tour’, whilst the other major markets have either only increased recently (UK), or have lessened (Canada and USA). She clearly puts a decent amount of faith into Japan!

OKAY! Now that we’ve looked at the ways she’s been successful in Japan, I thought we’d now look into just why it might be the case that she has been so well-received by her Japanese audience. If you feel like you need a break before we move on, feel free to do so now. Trust, I know how unfortunate attention spans are these days. But make sure to come back though! Grab a cup of tea or something and then please return (I’m quite enjoying green tea at the moment).

You're back! Yay! Or maybe you felt brave and didn’t even leave? That’s besides the point. Back to the discussion. So, the question to answer here is ‘Why is Carly Rae Jepsen so well-suited to a Japanese audience?’.

To me, one of the main reasons is due to the crossover between Western and East Asian culture; this crossover has of course been established thanks to the help of the 'internet' (Ishaya). In terms of Pop music, this means that traits from Western Pop and East Asian Pop have cherry-picked traits from each other's typical styles. As we’re talking about Japan, we will be focusing on the differences between Western Pop and J-Pop (Japanese Pop), but of course subgenres like K-Pop (Korean Pop) also have a role to play outside of this isolated analysis (Cole). The main similarity between modern J-Pop and Western Pop is the heightened focus on electronic music (Music In Japan) and, unless (just checking again) you did magically disappear in the year 2012, you would know that electronic music is the comfort that Carly Rae Jepsen fans crave. Therefore, giving a reason for why Carly Rae Jepsen is so popular in Japan. But it’s not that simple, is it? Because if that were the case then why isn’t every electro-pop artist as near and dear to Japan’s heart as Miss Jepsen?

Could it be that Carly Rae just aligns more with the “Kawaii” aesthetic that Japan is famous for? Her bright and playful music and personality, her vibrant and camp visuals, the way that she is always aiming to uplift and happify her audience - it all aligns pretty well (Forgeard). But there still must be more to it?

It could be because of the surprisingly consistent use of her music in Japanese culture. ‘I Really Like You’ was used in a Japanese shampoo advert (Slate). The ‘Hello Kitty: Super Style’ theme song was performed by Carly Rae Jepsen (Fandom). ‘Hello Kitty’ being the world-renowned Japanese franchise, where (and I literally just found this out) the eponymous character is in fact not a cat but instead a human girl (Palmer and Yang). Carly Rae also did a collaborative video with ‘Tasty Japan’ (a food channel managed by BuzzFeed Japan) where they made some cat themed menu items out of sushi, in honour of the music video for ‘Now That I Found You’. More specifically, the famous cat Shrampton that featured in said music video (Moshi Moshi Nippon). Silly examples, I know, but you can’t deny that these aren’t incredibly effective ways to engage with fans. And at least the last example featured an actual cat!

A more plausible reason could be it’s just simply because her music is good. Like really good. The fact that she has almost never strayed away from the electro-pop genre has allowed for a consistently high-quality for her music that keeps fans coming back. Albeit, album sales have lessened, but I think that has happened to everyone due to the streaming era of music we’re in (Luca and McFadden).

So what does this all mean? Have I come to a conclusion? I bet you’d like it if I did. Well, you’re in luck because I think I’ve got a personal answer. Drum roll please. Oh wait, this is a blog. Uh..we’ll try this. Dum dadum dadum dadum dadum dum pew (I don’t know how to translate a drum to text). Sorry. I should take this part more seriously. Where were we? Oh, my answer.

Well, to put it simply, I think that the reason that Carly Rae Jepsen has such a large Japanese following is that she cares about her Japanese fans. We’ve looked at her admirable thoughts towards Japan, we’ve seen the exclusive CDs that she ensures are there, we’ve discussed her consistent amount of tour dates in Japan, and we’ve even looked at some wacky ways that she has collaborated with Japan. For Carly Rae to go out of her way (that rhymed- I’ll never stop pointing these moments out *insert evil laugh*) to do all of these things for her Japanese fans, she must clearly respect them deeply, which is most likely why they’ve done the same for her.

So there you have it, I hope you liked my answer. Basically, kindness and loyalty breeds kindness and loyalty- don’t forget to share that advice with your family and friends and to reference this blog when doing so. Seriously, it’s been a blast having you here reading these rambly writings. I hope you enjoyed this VERY FIRST AND VERY REAL BLOG POST and I’ll see you soon!

Below is a list of the works I've cited if you're interested in where I got my sources from or if you plainly just don't believe me. You will also find some beautiful tables that I meticulously created to aid in my research.

Bye!

Works Cited

Cole, J. “The K-pop Effect: How Korean Music Is Influencing Western Pop Music.” PopMachine, 12 June 2023, https://www.popmachinemedia.com/post/the-k-pop-effect-influencing-western-music. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Fandom. “Hello Kitty: Super Style (Theme Song) | Carly Rae Jepsen Wiki | Fandom.” Carly Rae Jepsen Wiki, https://carlyraejepsen.fandom.com/wiki/Hello_Kitty:_Super_Style_Theme_Song#cite_note-ani-1. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Fandom. “The Loneliest Time | Carly Rae Jepsen Wiki | Fandom.” Carly Rae Jepsen Wiki, https://carlyraejepsen.fandom.com/wiki/The_Loneliest_Time#. Accessed 18 August 2023.

Forgeard, Valerie. “The Magic of Japan's Pop Culture: Exploring Its Global Fascination.” Brilliantio, 7 April 2023, https://brilliantio.com/why-is-japanese-pop-culture-so-popular/. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Lindsay, Cam. “Pop star Carly Rae Jepsen really, really, really likes Japan.” The Japan Times, 24 March 2016, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/03/24/music/pop-star-carly-rae-jepsen-really-really-really-likes-japan/. Accessed 18 August 2023.

Luca, Michael, and Craig McFadden. “How Streaming Is Changing Music (Again).” Harvard Business Review, 12 December 2016, https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-streaming-is-changing-music-again. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Metacritic. “Carly Rae Jepsen Music Profile.” Metacritic, https://www.metacritic.com/person/carly-rae-jepsen. Accessed 2 August 2023.

Moshi Moshi Nippon. “Carly Rae Jepsen Releases Video in Collaboration With Tasty Japan | MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON | もしもしにっぽん.” moshi moshi nippon, https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/227007. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Music In Japan. “Western Influence - Music in Japan.” Music in Japan, https://japanhistorymusic.weebly.com/western-influence.html. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Palmer, Keke, and Bowen Yang. “Hello Kitty fans left stunned after learning she is NOT a cat.” Virgin Radio, 16 August 2023, https://virginradio.co.uk/lifestyle/87156/hello-kitty-fans-left-stunned-after-learning-she-is-not-a-cat. Accessed 5 September 2023.

Slate. “Carly Rae Jepsen Shampoo Advert.” YouTube, 18 June 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcoJ0NuE6E&t=8s. Accessed 4 September 2023.

Spotify. “Carly Rae Jepsen Spotify Page.” Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/artist/6sFIWsNpZYqfjUpaCgueju. Accessed 2 August 2023.

Carly Rae Jepsen albums and songs sales data. ChartMasters, 20 December 2022, https://chartmasters.org/carly-rae-jepsen-albums and-songs-sales/. Accessed 5 September 2023.

Jepsen, Carly Rae. Carly Rae Jepsen Tour Data. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Rae_Jepsen#Tours. Accessed 5 September 2023.

Wheatley, Chris. “Why Japanese Bonus Tracks Are a Thing - Explained.” Loudwire, 4 May 2022, https://loudwire.com/why-japanese-bonus-tracks-exist-explained/. Accessed 6 September 2023.

Ishaya, Prosper. “Is Internet Culture Now the Absolute Culture?” VoiceBox, 9 March 2023, https://voicebox.site/article/internet-culture-now-absolute-culture. Accessed 6 September 2023.