Carly Rae Jepsen opens Australian tour in Sydney: Review

Yes, she’s more than just that one inescapable hit – not that fans needed convincing as Carly Rae Jepsen kicked off her first Australian tour.

Yes, there’s a lot more to Carly Rae Jepsen than just Call Me Maybe – so much so, she dispensed with that world-conquering hit just six songs into her set at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre last night.

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And really, it was one of the night’s lesser highlights. After all, how do you top a concert opener like Run Away With Me? The opening sax blast of that song – one of half a dozen gems she performed from her 2015 modern classic album Emotion – was like a clarion call to the Jepsen faithful.

She looked the part, done up like a Disney princess in a floor-length tulle froufrou gown – because what else do you wear to sing 20 romantic pop anthems in a row?

Jepsen’s long-awaited follow-up to Emotion, this year’s Dedicated, took a little while longer to reveal its charms, but its highlights all got an airing: a giant disco ball suddenly shimmered on cue for Julian (a love song to a guy she admits she no longer has feelings for, but his name was too musical not to write a song about), and recent single Want You In My Room revealed itself to be an instant Jepsen classic in a live setting.

Also welcome: a mid-set excursion into her 2016 Emotion: side-B collection. There are few artists who could get away with playing three “B-sides” in a row without losing half the audience to the bar, but in Carly Rae Jepsen’s world, each felt like a hit single that never was (particularly the downbeat new wave anthem Cry).

Jepsen arrived at Sydney Airport earlier this week ahead of the Aria Awards. Picture: Matrix

I last saw Jepsen live almost exactly four years ago, just a few months after Emotion was released. This was before the Run Away With Me memes, before Cut to the Feeling, and there was a sense back then she was still trying to fight for a career outside the shadow of Call Me Maybe. Four years later, there’s a discernible glow-up in confidence and stage presence. It’s like the fan affirmation has buoyed her: She seems indestructible on stage. Underneath the ball gown, though, at heart, there’s still an air of the daggy teenager dancing to pop songs in their bedroom: She’s one of us.

The singer is touring Australia.

In the end, like so many of the best pop stars – our own Kylie Minogue among them – Jepsen’s at her best when she’s revelling in pure joy. Bursting back on stage to perform the almost impossibly euphoric Cut to the Feeling, Jepsen was joined at the front of stage by one of her band members, dressed entirely in white like a Mykonos barman and dropping to his knees to bust out an extended saxophone solo. It was earnest, it was hilarious, it was more than a little bit ridiculous, and it was utterly Carly Rae Jepsen.

Carly Rae Jepsen continues her Dedicated tour at Melbourne’s Forum on December 2 and Auckland Town Hall in New Zealand on December 4. Tickets and info through TEG Dainty.