Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit single is kitschy fun

JEPSEN. Her vocal chops are nothing to scoff at.

WHAT makes the No. 1 hit single, “Call Me Maybe,” tick? Its singer, Carly Rae Jepsen, is already 26 years old, but she’s wooing teeners and tweeners—a coveted record-buying demographic in the music industry—with a tune that is notable for its catchy dance hooks more than its message. The song has been sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for a couple of weeks now—it’s the first song by a Canadian artist to reach No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart since Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”

It’s drawing even more attention

—and record-breaking traction

—for the buzz its kitschy videos have created in cyberspace: Jepsen’s music video follows a love-struck girl who’s too shy to say hello to the hunky man of her dreams. When she finally finds the courage to introduce herself, however, she realizes it isn’t her number he’s interested in getting!

Interestingly, Abercrombie & Fitch’s version of the video is even more attention-grabbing. Late last year, the international clothing brand called on its hottest male models (from its flagship stores all over the world) to record themselves on their cell phones having fun with the song, singing along with it, and dancing to the fun tune, half-naked. The result is A&F’s steamy (and campy) black-and-white video.

Refreshing cover

“Call Me Maybe” is culled from Jepsen’s well-reviewed EP, “Curiosity,” which is also note-worthy for the hook-heavy title track, as well as its bubbly and refreshing cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”

Jepsen may seem kooky in her video, but her vocal chops are nothing to scoff at: She placed third in the fifth season of “Canadian Idol” in 2007—and we know only too well that some of the “Idol” franchise’s runners-up are better than the actual winners themselves!