In just over a month we’ll have Carly Rae Jepsen’s new two-disc album Day and Night in hand. The first two previews, On Wire—with its layers of distorted guitars—and After All—with a sound that nods to Jungle— managed to persuade only halfway, but that problem shouldn’t repeat with the third preview, Don’t Leave Me on the Dancefloor.
Don’t Leave Me on the Dancefloor is a track drawn from EMOTION and Dedicated, though the nocturnal tone of the production makes it fit into the album’s second half, the portion devoted to the night. It’s the song of the day.
Don’t Leave Me on the Dancefloor has the magic of those pop songs made to dance and to move you at the same time. If CJ Baran’s production — among others — blends punchy basslines and futuristic synths in a Daft Punk-inspired vein, the melody is pure “pop perfection,” with echoes of ABBA. The result is a polished pop track, the kind that reminds you why Carly Rae Jepsen knows how to craft this kind of music like few others.
Carly hits the musical mark while turning the dance floor into a metaphor about the fear of remaining alone with the night or something more (the passage of time? our own existence?). “Don’t leave me alone in the dark, I need you on the dance floor,” Carly pleads, and in the line “remember what it feels like to be the one who takes me home” she seems to speak of the need to have someone who accompanies us and brings us back to a safe place.
