10 Things You Didn't Know About Carly Rae Jepsen

The singer behind this year's viral hit, "Call Me Maybe," explains the importance of a phone call and her true feelings about the many parodies her song has spawned.


James Franco, Katy Perry, The Man Repeller, even President Obama — kind of. The list of stars who have lip-synced their way through Carly Rae Jepsen's breakout hit "Call Me Maybe" ranges from movie stars to talk show hosts to Ivy League athletes. But while the videos have propelled her to pop icon status — her song just reached No. 1 on Billboard's "Hot 100" — the one thing noticeably absent from all of the videos is Carly herself. We caught up with the year's most parodied new pop star, and here's what we found out.

1. She loves all of the covers she's seen, but her favorite video is "Call Me Maybe Obsessed," by a group of guys in Abbotsford, British Columbia. "I love to see different people from different countries — some countries that I haven't even been to — put together their own version of the song," she says. She calls the Obama cover "rad" and "pretty shocking."

2. She's been known to lip-sync, too. Carly and her friends spent their childhood singing silently along to then-favorite songs like "Moondance" and "One Headlight."

3. Her mom's laid-back hippie style plays a big part in the way she dresses today.

4. From The Hunger Games to Game of Thrones to Fifty Shades of Grey, Carly's big into popular books. "Reading serves as a good escape when you're in the middle of doing crazy things," she says.

5. She's got a sweet tooth. Tour bus favorites include trail mix and Skittles, but on the rare occasion that she's home, Carly whips up a mean batch of her "famous" peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

6. She's a proud Canuck. Carly got her start on the fifth season of Canadian Idol, placing third in the 2007 competition. Since then she's toured Canada and performed at Canada Day.

7. If given the choice between fellow Canadian Ryans — Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling — she picks Gosling, "hands down."

8. Although we live in a world of texting, she appreciates the confidence guys show when they take the old-fashioned route and call her … maybe. While Jepsen's currently dating the guy she originally wrote the song about, she's heard many stories from fans who've used the song to prompt a guy to call them back. "I love that the song is playing cupid."

9. Justin Beiber famously boosted her career, but John Mayer holds a special place in her heart for sending her a note to say how much he liked the song and urge her to "keep going."

10. She's no one-hit wonder. She's excited to start her "Believe" tour with Justin Beiber and to get to work on her new album, which she says will reflect her "deepening love affair" with pop music.