Working with a team that included her "Call Me Maybe" collaborator
Tavish Crowe
,
Carly Rae Jepsen
created her sixth album during the COVID-19 global pandemic -- a perfect time to sit with solitude and fantasize about connection. Feeling at once separate and connected is a major motif on
The Loneliest Time
, particularly on "Talking to Yourself," where
Jepsen
sets her lingering feelings for an old flame to an '80s pop fantasia with massive choruses. The time spent alone in her adopted home of California is also a profound influence. Sometimes it takes a starring role, as on the edgy, sensual "Joshua Tree." Elsewhere, it lends a mellow haziness, as on "Western Wind," the
Rostam Batmanglij
-produced single that harks back to the '90s with its shuffling trip-hop beats and
Batmanglij
's work with
HAIM
. As good as her singles are,
creates album-length experiences, and she balances
's exuberance with just enough introspection. She embraces heartache like never before, letting it ground the hopeful glow of the album's opening manifesto "Surrender My Heart." When she lets her anger, disappointment, and grief lead the way, it can be just as powerful as when she sings of love at first sight. The album's biggest surprise is "Beach House," which captures the wasteland of dating in the early 2020s with humor, horror, and just a bit of cynicism -- a first for
. While it may feel out of character, its candidness is striking. The same can be said of "Go Find Yourself or Whatever," a Laurel Canyon homage that expertly toes the line between bitter and bittersweet. Despite her heartbreak, she hasn't given up on love, or at least the dream of it, entirely, and she transforms her romantic fantasies into bubbly disco reveries. "Shooting Star" is a frothy, flirty confection that begs to be played at roller rinks, while the title track's elegant, old-school duet with
Rufus Wainwright
gives the album a Hollywood happy ending and reaffirms that
is still one of pop's smartest students of history. Her charm holds together
's whirlwind of daydreams, confessions, and decades of pop allusions, making it another strong album from an artist who knows her niche and how to grow beyond it. At its best, it's pop written by and for those who dream of something, and someone, real. ~ Heather Phares