For someone who never really went away, Carly Rae Jepsen sure knows how to make a return feel like an entrance. “I really think that’s a funny saying,” she says with a laugh. “I’m like, where did I go?” Fair point, considering the steady drip of singles over the past few years. But “Western Wind” hits differently—a new era wrapped in longing, sun-dappled synths, and barefoot emotional clarity.
She calls it her “coming out of hibernation” phase. “Taking off the sweatpants, getting ready for the public,” she jokes. But the time off wasn’t just naps and Netflix. “There was a lot of learning,” she explains. “You’re kind of forced to look in the mirror—like, really look. Not physically, but you know… where you’ve landed, who you are.”
That reflection fuels “Western Wind,” a gentle, wistful track that brings Jepsen closer to her Tug of War roots than the technicolor pop of Emotion or Dedicated. Written with longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij (former of Vampire Weekend), the song arrives like a breeze through memory. “I was missing my family in Canada,” she says. “All these flashes of our dance parties during the holidays. I thought everyone’s family did that—took their socks off, moved the furniture, danced around the room. Turns out, nope.”
The song’s details are vivid, lived-in. Lines like “Dust my shoes before I enter” catch your ear not because they’re flashy, but because they’re oddly specific and strangely moving. “It’s that feeling when you come back to a place that used to feel like home and you’re not sure how to enter anymore,” she explains. “You feel like a stranger in your own comfort zone.”
It’s a heavy theme wrapped in something featherlight, much like the video itself—an outdoor dreamscape somewhere between Wuthering Heights and a fashion editorial. “Very Kate Bush, but with, you know… gowns,” she says. “I told the director we needed to capture that energy. Like I was singing to someone who isn’t there. That’s the feeling I wanted.”
The track is just one flavor of what’s coming, though she resists the idea of a “direction.” “At this point, I’m less interested in having a sound and more in exploring all the ones I love,” she says. “But when Rostam and I work together, something specific always happens. We just get each other.”
In the middle of that quiet period, Jepsen also dropped “Me and the Boys in the Band,” a one-off ode to the platonic romance of tour life. “I’d just gone through a breakup, and those guys really got me through it,” she says. “We’ve been playing together for over ten years. We were Zooming during the pandemic just to see each other’s faces. No news, just vibes.”
Live shows are finally back on the horizon, with the Nice Tour hitting cities across North America. “The enthusiasm is eleven out of ten,” she beams. “It’s a party. The kind where everyone loses their inhibitions, including me. I become the campiest version of myself and I love it.”
She’s particularly jazzed to finally play Radio City Music Hall, a gig that was snatched away during the pandemic. “I was like, but… we were so close!” she says. “So yeah, this time it’s gonna feel extra special.”
A portion of ticket proceeds from the tour will go to the Ali Forney Center, an organization supporting LGBTQ+ youth. “I have a friend who was disowned by his parents when he came out,” she says. “That’s something that’s always stayed with me. No one should have to grow up that fast, and no one should feel like they’re not loved.”
As for new music, she’s still figuring it out. “I’m still cooking,” she admits. “People ask, ‘What does it sound like?’ and I’m like, ‘Me too—I wonder!’”
And no, despite some online whispers, there’s no official Carly x Lorde collab in the works. “We’ve done a few things together onstage, and she once covered ‘Run Away With Me,’ which was the best,” Jepsen says. “But I’d love that. Let’s manifest it.”
Until then, we’ve got a song that sounds like homesickness and hope, delivered with the breeze of someone who’s figured out how to carry her people with her—even when they’re far away.
Watch the interview above and then watch the video below.
