take me to the feeling: an ode to freedom

of course. of course i found my “song of the summer” just as the season draws to a close. sure, we had our trap queens and cheerleaders, but it was the arresting saxophone riff heralding the start of carly rae jepsen’s “run away with me” which made me want to do just that. that same saxophone can be heard again in the chorus, layered underneath a pulsating beat. lyrically, sonically, and aesthetically, the bridge shimmers with possibility, the lyrics over the weekend, we could turn the world to gold having been lodged in my brain like a stone ever since i first heard them.

seriously though, what happened to carly rae jepsen? for her third record, one could argue that she stopped trying in the sense that she didn’t try to replicate the sugary strings and synths that came to define her 2012 breakout hit, “call me maybe”, which currently has a jaw-dropping 715,597,837 views on youtube. her latest release, E•MO•TION is, as a whole, stunning in the way one wouldn't typically expect from a contemporary pop artist,(though that's a discussion for another time). but none of the tracks resonated with me in quite the same way as “run away with me”. 

uploaded to youtube on the 17th july, the music video for "run away with me" is currently sitting pretty with a modest 5,590,763 views and i’m willing to bet a good half of them have come from me. an exaggeration perhaps, but this particular series of moving images has played on repeat in my brain ever since i clicked “play” for the first time. incidentally i’m not exactly sure when that was, yet somehow it feels like this song and its accompanying visuals have always been in my head.

the combination of the two thrums with possibility, with freedom, with release, with liberation, starting with jepsen’s shaggy black bob and jagged fringe falling haphazardly into her eyes. gone are the sleek long locks blow dried into submission that she sported in her earlier videos, and with that, i presume, the pressure to remain polished, pure, perfect. jepsen said that she wasn't aware she was being filmed, and it shows, in the best possible way. it was this very video that lead me to cut my own hair shorter in the hope that i might find myself a piece of said freedom (i'm getting there, slowly).

i feel it every time i watch this video, the adrenaline rush, the high of being around someone you like-like. “run away with me” captures a moment in time where we can all be the best, freest version of ourselves, running around a city, your city, be it denver, dublin or dubai.

it’s true that nothing lasts forever, everything is temporary, and so on. not even jepsen herself could say she feels that way every second of every day, and that’s because like you and me, she is human. this simple fact is perhaps the beauty of “run away with me”. it allows us to revisit this emotion (i know) whenever we so desire; when things are hard, when we can’t find a way out, when we need to feel alive. 

and for four magical minutes and twelve glorious seconds, jepsen is there at the click of a button, ready to take us to that feeling, ready to be our hero.

and win it.

for real though, if you haven't seen this video, stop whatever you're doing right now and watch it. and for the love of all things good and pure in this world, turn it up loud. 

but be warned, one play just won't be enough. 




edit: on the 18th august, jepsen also uploaded a behind the scenes video documenting the making of run away with me, and i couldn't not include it in this post because reasons; namely getting to see the mishaps that took place to create this (seemingly) perfect sequence only makes it more endearing to watch.

this dreamy remix is also worthy of a mention. just when i thought i couldn't possibly love this song any more, the slowed down pace gives the song a whole new sensual, sultry edge, making the emotion (i am SORRY) within less frantic but equally as passionate as the original.