"Julien" is a song by Canadian singer

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

from her fourth album '' Dedicated''. It was released on April 19, 2019, by

604 __NOTOC__ Year 604 (Roman numerals, DCIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 604 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini ...

, School Boy and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

as the fourth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

off of the record. It is a midtempo

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

- pop,

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song influenced by

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

Background and release

"Julien" was written at Maderas Village,

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

in August 2016. Jepsen revealed that the title was inspired by an ex-boyfriend with whom she had a "romantic weekend" in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, saying that she found the name "musical" and has been trying to write it into a song since they met, going through multiple different songs of the same name. She stated, however, that the song itself is not about a specific person, but is a metaphor of "what it is to have that person that is maybe the one that got away". The singer described "Julien" as "the heart" of ''Dedicated'' and stated that it is about an "everlasting fantastical love" that follows you for the rest of your life. Jepsen posted a line from the song and announced its release date on social media on April 16, 2019. It was released as an instant download alongside the

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

for ''Dedicated'' on April 19, 2019 as the fourth

off of the album. The song was performed live throughout

The Dedicated Tour The Dedicated Tour was the third concert tour by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. Launched in support of her fourth studio album, '' Dedicated'' (2019), the tour began on 23 May 2019 in Stockholm and traveled across North America, Europe, Asia ...

Composition and lyrics

"Julien" is a "squelchy" and "shimmery" midtempo

- pop,

and

song composed in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

. It has a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 119

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

and influences of

. Its instrumentation consists of a "clean, robotic" and "driving" beat, "soft" and "swelling" guitars, as well as "slippery" synths. Lyrically, the track is a "simmering reflection on fleeting romance", which portrays Jepsen as a "wounded animal, searching for a way to cauterize her injuries as she lies on the road to heartbreak". Jepsen "sings about somebody she wishes she was with" and "tells the story of a long lost love that she prays will come back but knowing deep down that he probably won't" on the song.

Critical reception

Mark Young of Mxdwn called the song the "centerpiece of the album", and complimented the synthesizers used in the beginning of the song. Young also praised the buildup verse to pre-chorus to hook, writing that it is "perfectly executed". Writing for ''

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'', Anna Gaca noted the "windshield-wiper synths that open Julien", "pointing to Jepsen's other guiding aesthetic: chill disco". Music critics Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and

Anthony Fantano Anthony Fantano ( ; born October 28, 1985) is an American music critic and YouTuber who runs the YouTube channel The Needle Drop and its tie-in website. He discusses and reviews music from a variety of genres in his YouTube videos and on his we ...

highlighted "Julien" as one of the best songs on ''Dedicated''. It was selected as one of the best tracks of 2019 by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' journalist Graeme Virtue and voted one of the top songs of 2019 by ''

'' readers.

Year-end lists

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Carly Rae Jepsen songs Funk songs Synth-pop songs Disco songs Electropop songs Canadian dance songs Songs written by Carly Rae Jepsen