Carly Rae Jepsen released her third album, Emotion, in 2015. The closing track on the record is When I Needed You. In this episode, Carly tells the story of how the song was made. You’ll hear the first demo for the song, a version she co-wrote with her longtime collaborator Tavish Crowe. And you’ll hear how that led to the album version. Plus, producer Ariel Rechtshaid breaks down some of the parts that he created for the recording. My interview with Carly Rae Jepsen was recorded live at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco.

Buy “When I Needed You” on iTunes.

I had a great time talking to @carlyraejepsen today for Song Exploder live at @noisepopfest. (????: @rsa)

A photo posted by Song Exploder (@songexploder) on Feb 27, 2016 at 6:24pm PST

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

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The Lumineers released their second album on April 8, 2016. Their first album went platinum, and they spent months touring relentlessly in support of it. That schedule took a toll on their relationship, but they ended up putting it into their songs. In this episode, Wes and Jeremiah break down their song “Ophelia.” You’ll hear their demos and a version that didn’t make it to the album. They’ll explain how the final track is not just a product of what they put into it, but what they decided to leave out.

You can buy “Ophelia” on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
“Ophelia” by The Band

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Weezer’s 10th album, the self-titled “White” album, came out April 1, 2016. In this episode, Rivers Cuomo breaks down the meticulous process of making the song “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori,” through the different demo versions that the track went through, and the array of spreadsheets that he uses collect, analyze, and harvest his ideas.

You can buy “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori” on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
“Walk Away Renee” by The Left Banke
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

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