Carly Rae Jepsen on ‘fairy godmother’ Justin Bieber: ‘I’m forever indebted to him’

Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen covers the January issue of Cosmo, and before you ask who she is … you’ve probably heard her earworm of a song, “Call Me Maybe” on the radio or just about anywhere. They played it at some point during the Olympics too. It’s kind of an annoying tune, but my daughter likes it a lot. She appeared on a season of “Canadian Idol,” but her real break came when Justin Bieber became her “fairy godmother.” Legend has it that Bieber was actually washing dishes for his mom (who knew he still did that?) when he heard Carly’s song on the radio. He subsequently tweeted about it and introduced her to (the ever-enthusiastic) Ellen DeGeneres, and now she’s opening for him on tour. Here are some excerpts from Carly’s Cosmo interview:

Carly Rae Jepsen

On the Bieber boost for her career: “I never get tired of being asked about him. I’m forever indebted to him for the lovely boost that he’s given me.”

People say she dresses too young for 27: “I love being classy and as elegant as possible in my apartment. But when I’m onstage, I can’t dance in 4 1/2 -inch heels, so I’ll generally sport flats. I’m 5 feet 2, so yeah, I’m going to look a little bit more playful. But I don’t think that means I’m trying for an age younger than I am. If people think I look younger, then that’s great; I’m stoked. But I turned 27 in November, and when I look in the mirror, I see all the years attached to that face, and I’m content with me.”

Her future: “For me, the goal of music has never been ‘I need to be the biggest superstar in the world.’ It was ‘I want to spend my life doing this, and I want to make a career that I can live off of so I don’t have to tend bar and waitress to make this fly.’ I don’t want to be Cinderella for a night. I want to be Cinderella for life.”

She loves life on the road: “Go to bed when you’re supposed to and drink a little extra water and you’ll be fine. When I was a little girl, my parents once asked me, ‘Carly, where do you want to live?’ I said, ‘In hotels. They leave chocolate on your pillow, and you never have to clean your room.'”

On life post-“Idol”: “Everyone says Idol’s a competition. And I’m like, ‘No, no….The real competition is when the show is over. That’s when we figure out how to turn this opportunity into a real career.’ Everyone else was trying to win the show–and the show would’ve been good to win–but I was looking at those contracts and asking a million questions, like, ‘Whoa, that doesn’t look too fair. You hold all our rights for how long?'”

[From Cosmopolitan]

Carly Rae seems like a relatively down-to-earth pop star, but I have to wonder about her longevity. She seems auto-tuned to death, but that’s typical these days, so who knows? Few people thought Katy Perry would have a successful second album and $45 million dollar tour, so I guess it can happen to almost anyone with the right team.

Here are some pictures of Carly Rae live on the Believe tour (opening for Justin Bieber) on 10/23. She really does dress young for 27, but it’s not in a fetishy way.

Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen

Photos courtesy of Cosmopolitan

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45 Responses to “Carly Rae Jepsen on ‘fairy godmother’ Justin Bieber: ‘I’m forever indebted to him’”

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  1. annaloo. says:

    THAT is not a good picture. At all.

    • Amelia says:

      I recognise that look; I saw it a lot at uni – you open the door a bit too hastily and suddenly there are two people scrabbling to put their clothes on.

    • MJ says:

      No kidding! This is super haggard. It’s like they made her look older in contrast to the comments on her looks vs. age. When you see her up close, she looks at least 26. That eyeliner is doing her no favours.

    • Becky1 says:

      I know! The clothes, the hair, the make-up-all bad. She’s a cute girl and normally looks much better than this.

  2. KellyinSeattle says:

    Maybe she and Biebs should hook up and make beautiful (cough) music together. They’re such great artists that only they are so deep and able to understand their bond. I saw her on Ellen and she looked like a teenager. I know this is mean (i’m a bitch) but she kind of reminds me of a guy I know wearing a bad wig…too loud for my liking. LIKE, for real, not MAYBE, baby. Like, really.

    • Happy21 says:

      LMAO, the first thing I thought when I saw your post was that in another 10 years they’d be together – – kind of like like Avril & Chad. By then Canada will need another couple to laugh at…

  3. Happy21 says:

    She’s 27! I had no idea. I thought she was just a little pop tart of say 22.

    That Cosmo cover and the subsequent photo are terrible. They can do amazing things with photoshop when it’s not warranted and when it is they don’t bother?

  4. Madriani's Girl says:

    Is she kidding with that outfit???

    • gg says:

      I know! It’s open season now for performers, since Kesha and Nikki started wearing anything and everything with whatever. ugh.

  5. bluespirit says:

    someone just discovered eyeliner…

  6. Nanz says:

    Take my pop culture card away – I’ve never heard the song. But! I’ve heard of her and know the song exists (that says something, right?). I had no idea is touring with the Biebs. Does she sing more than that one song? Not being snarky. I just thought she was a you tube one hit wonder like the “Friday” girl – Something Black.

    • Lindsay says:

      She has an album. That is her one hit. It is impressive you avoided it! Somebody took the time to edit a video of the President speaking the words to the song. The US swim team shot a video, it seemed inescapable. I’d imagine the rest of the album is similar in style.

      I’m sure there is some effort on her to dress young. That song is really young sounding, Justin and his fans are young. 27 seems old at 16. And when you hear the song it sounds like it was written and sung by a teenager not a 26 year old.

      • Esmom says:

        Don’t forget the Harvard baseball team video. It was the song of the summer for sure.

        And I admit I can still stomach it as long as the Harvard boys are lip synching to it. *hangs head in shame*

        Actually she has another song that seems to get a lot of airtime on the stations my kids listen to.

    • gg says:

      Sesame Street has a hilarious version of this song sung by the Cookie Monster.

  7. Mimi says:

    This girl will be trapped singing those teenybopper songs. Unfortunately her label is forcing her to appeal to a younger audience so she tries to dress and act younger. There was a sexy video she shot before her hit “call me maybe” and now they have retracted it because it wont appeal to her young audience.

    • sala says:

      Do you mean her original video for ‘Call Me Maybe’? I thought that video was a fun tongue-in-cheek sexy parody (her trying to look sexy posing on a car but falling off, the romance cover Fabio type guy…). And then the ending where the guy she’s been dreaming about gives his number to a guy in her band, instead of to her. It played all the time in Canada back then but apparently once JB heard the song and got her airplay outside of Cda the video had to be redone (to the one where she, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and others dance around someone’s house). It was thought that her dream guy turning out to be gay wouldn’t appeal to a wider audience. Shame!

      Anyway, I couldn’t pick a Selena or Justin song out of a lineup but I do like ‘Call Me Maybe.’ Great, uptempo song to run to!

      • Mimi says:

        No there’s another one for another song where is half naked on a bed with some other equally naked black guy. Its way more racy. Call me maybe’s video is way too cutesy.

  8. Minnie says:

    Who cares? She’s performing! Much more forgiveable clothing than what 50 yr old Madonna wears or 43 yr old JLo.

  9. Esmom says:

    I was thinking that Bieber discovered her but it sounds like she had released the song and he just helped the popularity grow.

    Anyway, she seems sweet and sensible. Although lol at “all the years” on her 27-year-old face.

    I thought her “Cinderella” comment was cute. If she’s careful she’ll be OK with only a couple hits, I’d think.

  10. Erinn says:

    I really really liked her back when I was watching Canadian Idol. That was like… years ago. She was just so adorable. I think she was about 21 then.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msk_Pthides

  11. littlestar says:

    When her song first came out around a year ago, before she and the song were a hit, I thought she was 16. I couldn’t believe it when I found out a few months later that she was actually 26! Her music is cute and she seems decent enough, but I just don’t get why any grown woman would want to infantilize herself. I think it’s going to really shorten her career. A 30+ woman acting like a teenager is just not appealing to many people.

  12. V4Real says:

    Ahhh shut up already. The oversized bangs and the way you dress; yes you are trying to appear younger. I’m thinking if people thought she was a girl of 19 or 20 she would be forgiven for that overly played song that I just can’t get out of my head.

    I’m sure the music execs also played a part in the way she looks as well.

    Yeah I’m even more sure now after watching the Youtube that I linked on from Erinn’s comment. She looks younger now than she did when she was 21.

    • Erinn says:

      I think she looks older in the face now, but her ‘look’ is really being targeted to appeal to the younger teens now.

      • V4Real says:

        Yeah you’re right. I took a longer look.
        But damn; that wind in the hair thing is not working for her. Somebody get that girl a brush.

      • Erinn says:

        I want to put some morrocan oil in it, and brush it so much hahaha. It could look so pretty and shiny with so little work.

  13. anniel says:

    WHY WHY WHY ???? But she look hideous and she has such a pretty face. She is a doll and in this picture she look tired and old yes old like a Demi Moore “and old woman trying to be a child” Cosmo hates her.

  14. TheOneAndOnly says:

    Agree with most everyone just another teeny bopper pop tart; and for the love of God can cosmo go back to putting models on the cover – there are many many internet sites showing Cosmo covers of the glory years (although we’d have to bring back Scavullo and HGB) with the supermodels of the 70s,80s, and 90s so much better, give me Paulina and Yasmin, Naomi and Christy, not this little girl with very little talent.

  15. EmmaStoneWannabe says:

    I think the thing we need to walk away from this story considering, is the fact that Justin Bieber has a lot of power. When he (and a select few others) tweets something, it can become an overnight global sensation. I know this is a reality of the modern, social-media-driven world we live in now…but still it make me a bit uncomfortable that a wimpy, little Hilary Swank lookalike puts something out there…and millions take it in. That’s when they rise above their own sphere of pop culture, and become responsible for creating spin offs of such. Scary.

  16. lilred says:

    Well she got the fairy Godmother part right anyway. 🙂

  17. Maria says:

    Can somebody PLEASE just push her hair back from her face, for once?! She’s like a horse with blinkers on.

  18. LeslieM says:

    Big mistake the way they dress her. She looks ridiculous. Put her in some of those cute, vintage Taylor Swift dresses.

  19. LouLou says:

    I thought she was a teenybopper. I just don’t know about that top photo. You can see a chunk of her butt. I think 27-year-olds can get away with a lot because that is still pretty young, but she’s bordering on mutton-dressed-as-lamb territory because her face looks too grown up for the kewpie doll clothes.

  20. emma says:

    she seems fun. I like how she described her years attached to her face.
    She does dress a little young, but she is in that poppy world where she may not be as accepted maybe if she didn’t dress like that? I agree, not fetishy or weird, just young.

  21. asdfg says:

    I can’t believe she’s 27! I thought she was 22-24ish!

    Her cover photo is eh. What’s up with the dress being so short? It looks 2x to small for her! It;s a lovely dress though just alil too short in my opinion!

  22. Bleugh says:

    She played this “Aww shucks I’m just a widdle girl” act on Canadian Idol too. Very manipulative to get her way. She’s a one trick pony. Bieber probably got a hard on watching her back then, and gave her the ‘exposure’ because of many happy memories.

  23. Leah says:

    I thought this song was cute the first 3 times I heard it. Then it got overplayed to death in Chicago. It really is autotuned and from what I’ve heard, her other songs are exactly like that. Did anyone happen to catch her on Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Worst lipsyncer EVER. She couldn’t do it to save her life. You think she’d get better coaching before she did it. Is that something that just comes from years of practice or what?

  24. skeptical says:

    Glad she noticed about the Idol peeps keeping the rights for so long. I’ve often thought that the losers got the best deal.. they get some exposure but get to keep their work.