"Boy Problems" by Carly Rae Jepsen ft. Sia, Monday, December 20, 2021

Earlier this year, I talked about Carly Rae Jepsen's E-MO-TION as an album I could listen to without skipping a track, which is quite a feat for a 12-track regular edition, 15-track deluxe edition. However, when I first started listening to the album, I couldn't stand one track. A lot of listeners really, really, really couldn't stand the lead single, "I Really Like You" but I found the track enduring and quite in-line with the singer's debut single, "Call Me Maybe." Tracks in the middle of Jepsen's third record changed things up with maximalist '80s nostalgia: funky bass-lines, larger-than-life drums, and synths to fill in the atmosphere surrounding Jepsen's crisp vocals.

SO TIRED OF HEARIN' ALL YOUR BOY PROBLEMS. Enlisting a slew of Swedish songwriters and producers; listening to Robyn, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, and Kylie Minogue for inspiration; and collaborating with the HAIM sisters, Sia, her band, and long-term collaborator Tavish Crowe, E-MO-TION took shape. Like M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, E-MO-TION has a calculated nostalgia to it. It feels almost as if listeners are hearing what Paula Abdul would sound like with better recording technology. The album holds a 77 percent rating on Meta Critic and made many top ten album lists of 2015, despite the album's commercial underperformance. I thought the album was perfect, except for one song that went too far. Opening with Sia talking on a phone, the lyrical content of "Boy Problems" is self-absorbed and immature. This is coming from an artist who is the queen of immature pop songs; however, songs on Emotion start to address more mature themes, so "Boy Problems" felt like a regression. But after several listens, I started to understand the song. While the production of the song and the lyrics seem regressive at first, I started to realize how self aware the song is. Carly admits that the friend on the phone has a point, but the singer is too emotional at that point to admit it to her friend. Exasperated, Sia says, "Do whatever you want. I'm just done for tonight!" Jepsen starts to question as she sings the song, "Is it better to lose a lover or a best friend?" The song is a slow realization for any age, whether 15 or 35, that a boy, or girl, who emotionally alienates you from your friends, is probably not a good lover.

I KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FROM THE OUTSIDE. "Boy Problems" perhaps flirts with dubstep in ways that none of the other songs on Emotion do, particularly on the chorus. This makes "Boy Problems" unique on the album. But the funky bass sounds similar to the regular edition's closer "When I Needed You." The music video for "Boy Problems" imagines Jepsen sitting at home alone while the other girls are at a slumber party. Jepsen is wearing a tiara, sitting on her bed with an iPad. Visually, the video looks like an '80s teen classic with newer gadgets. The visuals blend Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, making the clip transcend the age gap in pop music. And while I wanted to scoff this track as a grown up, thinking that "Boy Problems" was too childish, in the context of the album, I realized that Emotion was mostly a pop album for adults who miss their childhoods. And that made me think about some of the awkward situations from my young adulthood. Though I can't fully relate to Jepsen's female experience, it reminded me of a time when there was so much awkwardness between the sexes. It made me think about my teenage awkwardness, which carried into my twenties after being a home-schooled, small-Christian-school- educated, Christian-college alumni who knew nothing about anything social. I thought about being obsessed with someone I thought I liked. I thought about the problems that can cause between friends. I shivered and thought about how much better things are now. Then I thought about Sia saying, "Seriously Carly, I don't want to hear about your boyfriend anymore!"

Read “Boy Problems” by Carly Rae Jepsen on Genius.

Official Music Video:

Live at Pitchfork Festival: