Welcome to another edition of “The Casual Gaymer!” This is a bimonthly column from AiPT! Gaming in which I’ll share my thoughts, questions, and concerns about video games and the gaming industry as a queer person with limited free time. Missed the last edition where I vented about how queer gamers often have to go the extra mile to enjoy games that actively reject them? Wake up! Get up! Get out there!
The wait is over. Carly Rae Jepsen’s fourth studio album, Dedicated, is available to purchase and stream. I was blind and ignorant to the pop power Jepsen is capable of until the release of the now canonical masterpiece E•MO•TION in 2015. Now, after giving us the EP we needed but didn’t deserve with E•MO•TION: Side B in 2016 and a handful of singles with which we may clear our skin and water our crops, Ms. Carly Slay Jepsen’s latest sonic elixir has paid my credit card debt, cured my depression, etc.
But this isn’t an album review; it’s an observation of how specifically targeted I’ve been by the fact that there’s lowkey a Katamari song on this album?!
Give “Everything He Needs,” (Jepsen: 4:5) a listen:
Tell me this isn’t a Katamari song! The weird dreamy feel from the high-pitched noises and vocals in the background. The distorted voice echoing Carly’s words. The simplified lyrics that feel more catchy than repetitive. It’s just chill enough to make a great background track, but still gives you lyrics and a beat to sing along and bob your head to. This was a song made to accompany the rolling up of people, farm animals, and skyscrapers into a noisy cluster of flesh and solid matter. Consider my previous column on Katamari Damacy‘s soundtrack (with accompanying playlist) if you need some top-tier bops for comparison. I’m thinking particularly of songs like “Bluffing Damacy” and “Katamaritaino,” in terms of mood, but with a splash of weirdness that tracks like “Lonely Rolling Star,” bring with the edited vocals.
It’s a shorter one this week, but I just had to share this realization with my fellow gaymers, #gamers, and bop-appreciators. See y’all in June and may this absolute blessing of an album see you through the end of the month safely.
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