604 Records Co-Founder Jonathan Simkin Says Carly Rae Jepsen Recorded a Whole Unreleased Album Around 'Call Me Maybe'
The British Columbia-native was signed to Interscope Records, but was reportedly tasked to make a brand new record with all new producers.
Carly Rae Jepsen
An unreleased Carly Rae Jepsen project exists out in the music ether, according to Jonathan Simkin.
In a recent podcast episode of I Hate Simkin, the 604 Records co-founder reveals that prior to the No. 1 success of Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” an entire project had been made — but it didn’t make it to the masses.
“We recorded a whole album that never came out,” Simkin shared in a clip posted to TikTok.
Before Jepsen went viral for her pop hits, she was a Canadian Idol contestant. In 2007, she signed with the indie record label 604, which was co-founded by Simkin and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. Jepsen went on to release her debut album, Tug of War, the following year.
A mere three years later, she had finished a second album, which included the biggest hit of her career. “Call Me Maybe” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for four weeks and had a nine-week reign on the U.S. Hot 100. The song grabbed the attention of Scooter Braun, who helped sign Jepsen to a joint worldwide recording contract with his label, Schoolboy Records, and major label Interscope Records.
“I remember flying down to L.A., and we had a meeting with Jimmy Iovine, who was the head of Interscope,” Simkin explains. “And they were like, ‘we need to record a new record,’ because ‘Call Me Maybe’ was blowing up. It was already very clear that was going to be a big hit.”
When Simkin notified executives that they already had a completed project for Jepsen, he says it “fell on deaf ears.”
“This is maybe a bit of a U.S. major label thing, but I think they always feel like if you’re not working with well-known producers who everybody knows it can’t be any good," he says.
Simkin pointed to Jepsen’s 2012 song “Curiosity,” which was originally on the unreleased album, but was put on a six-track EP of the same name in Canada — the track went on to peak at No. 18 on the Canadian Hot 100, while the EP peaked at No. 6 on the Canadian Albums chart.
When he broached the song’s popularity with U.S. execs, they wanted to redo the song. A new mix of “Curiosity” was released on Jepsen’s sophomore album, Kiss, which was released a few months later.
@604simkin The US Label that let a whole Carly Rae Jepsen album be scrapped.. Check out the full episode of IHS wherever you get your podcasts! #musicpodcast #carlyraejepsen #callmemaybe #popmusic #2000smusic
In the comments, fans are expressing their interest in hearing the scrapped project. “Can I come and listen to it some time?” one asked, while another said: “Release the album!!!!”
One fan shared their affinity for the EP version: “The original Curiosity is one of my fave Carly songs,” they said. “Yoooo curiousity single version is muccccchhh better 😩😩😩 so thats how the story why. No shade to kiss version though,” wrote another.
While fans can wish for the unreleased project to see the light of day, Jepsen is gearing up to release the 10th anniversary of her 2015 album, Emotion, in October.
