ON THIS DAY: Canada got “Call Me Maybe” — then the world did
September 20, 2011
There was a moment when “Call Me Maybe” was simply a new song by a Canadian singer-songwriter.
On September 20, 2011, Carly Rae Jepsen released the single in Canada through Vancouver’s 604 Records. The song was already gaining traction here when Justin Bieber heard it on the radio while visiting his mother in Stratford, Ontario. Jepsen later recalled that she was sitting at No. 11 on iTunes when Bieber tweeted about the song in December 2011. According to Jepsen, she was No. 1 in Canada within a day, while her Twitter following began climbing by the thousands.
Bieber and a group of friends, including Selena Gomez, later appeared in a homemade lip-sync video for the song, adding another push to something that was quickly taking on a life of its own online. Soon there were versions and adaptations involving Katy Perry, Cookie Monster and Colin Powell, while a lip-sync video by the Harvard baseball team drew millions of views. Pew Research Center documented thousands of “Call Me Maybe” spin-offs as the song spread across social media in 2012.
The chart run was just as remarkable. “Call Me Maybe” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Canadian Hot 100 and nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It also spent four weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, and SOCAN says the song ultimately reached No. 1 in 47 countries.
For Jepsen, the song changed the scale of her career. Its success caught the attention of Scooter Braun and led to a worldwide recording deal with School Boy Records and Interscope, while Jepsen remained with 604 Records in Canada. Her 2012 album, Kiss, reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200, bringing the former Canadian Idol contestant — who had finished third on the show in 2007 — into a much larger international spotlight.
“Call Me Maybe” also brought Jepsen two Grammy nominations, for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Years later, SOCAN honoured Jepsen and co-writers Tavish Crowe and Josh Ramsay for “Call Me Maybe” as the Most Performed Song in the organization’s 30-year history.
On September 20, 2011, though, the Grammy nominations, nine weeks atop the U.S. charts, millions of views and No. 1 rankings around the world were still ahead. It was a new single released in Canada by a Canadian artist, before a tweet, a homemade video and an extraordinary chain of events carried it far beyond its original audience. “Call Me Maybe” started here.
