Carly Rae Jepsen Talks Inspiration, The Origin of 'Call Me Maybe' and Embracing Her Inner Hippie [Exclusive Interview]

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" is without a doubt one of the biggest pop songs of the year that has solidified the young singer's position as one of the most exciting new voices in pop to keep your eye. Supported by massive online support of fans, "Call Me Maybe" has been certified platinum and has sold more than 3.2 million copies. Jepsen is also the very first artist since Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" to top the Billboard 100 Chart with a debut single. Certified quintuple-platinum in Jepsen's native Canada, the track is also an international sensation, climbing to the top spot in the iTunes Singles charts in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and many other countries.

"It's been a whirlwind ride, but very enjoyable," Carly Rae Jepsen smiles when I recently met her during a recording session. The song's ascent to the pop stratosphere is in part fueled by the support of fans and peers who have uploaded cover after cover to YouTube and turned "Call Me Maybe" into a tue pop culture phenomenon. "For me it's hard to take it all in especially with all the response online," Jepsen says. "I remember when I was living at home and my sister and I were dancing along to The Wallflowers. It's really surreal that a song I wrote with my two good friends is taking off in such a big way with people making their own version of it. It's really cool to see."

Whether it's the Harvard baseball team creating their own version of the song in the back of a van or pop group Fun covering it overseas, one of Jepsen's favorite remakes of the song is the cover of "Call Me Maybe" by Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and the guys from Big Time Rush "because that started it all," she explains. 

Writen by Jepsen, Tavish Crowe and Mariana's Trench's Josh Ramsay, "Call Me Maybe" is ruled by an irresistible catchy chorus that initially started as folk tune. "The beginning of that song started as a ( . . .) folk tune that was written about the guy that I'm dating right now," Jepsen explains. "And it was the line 'before you came into my life, I missed you so bad' [that started the idea]. Travish and I played it on the guitar on the road and created this folk version of 'Call Me Maybe.'"

"We brought that song to our good friend Josh [Ramsay] and we sort of combined [all of our] ideas together and it all came out  really easily. In three or four days it was recorded, written, mastered and everything. We all felt really excited about it but I don't think any of us expected to get the reaction that it has."

The singer may be a newcomer in the U.S., but the Mission, British Columbia, native is an established artist in Canada where she placed third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol and landed a deal with Fontana/Maple Music. She explains that the sound of "Call Me Maybe" is a good indication of where she's heading musically on her forthcoming album that is due in September.

"My first album was a lot folkier and inspired by the artists I grew up with and that my parents listened to. Artists like Van Morrison and Sinead O'Conor, and I think that reflected on the songs that I was writing," she explains. "From there I got a taste of dance and pop music, and my EP 'Curiosity' plays with that a little more. Now that I'm embracing more of the pop world, I realize that it's a world that I like very much." (Jepsen announced today that her album will be titled "Kiss" and will be released on September 18.)

"When I write songs on my guitar, I notice that pop songs just come out, so I decided not to fight it. So my album is gonna be pop heavy, but there will always be a hippie in me because you can't change that," she concludes with a big, bright smile. (Make sure to look out for Carly Rae Jepsen's debut album this fall and catch her on tour with Justin Bieber starting in September. Visit her web site for more info.)