Down-to-earth Carly Rae surprised by her fame

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Carly Rae Jepsen, a Canadian Idol participant whose song Call Me Maybe became famous thanks to fellow Canuck Justin Bieber, pleases the crowd of mostly under-20s on Saturday. (MELISSA TAIT)

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A girl in the crowd shoots video of Carly Rae Jepsen on stage at the Red River Ex on Saturday afternoon. (MELISSA TAIT)

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Carly Rae Jepsen performs at the Red River Exhibition on Saturday afternoon. The Ex booked her in January, before her meteoric rise. A spokeswoman said they couldn't afford to book her now. (MELISSA TAIT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

It was standing room only at the Red River Ex mainstage Saturday for North America's latest pop star, Carly Rae Jepsen.

"She's awesome," said Grade 5 student Keisha Thompson. She and her brother James, who's in Grade 7, were among the first in line to buy Carly Rae T-shirts. "That's his woman," his sister joked.

Their family drove in from Pine Falls to see the Canadian singer who has the No. 1 pop song in the world right now.

In January, the Red River Ex booked the Canadian Idol contestant before her meteoric rise to celebrity status. Justin Bieber Tweeted praise for her song Call Me Maybe. The video went viral on the Internet and to the top of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 list.

Saturday at the Ex, the crowd of mostly under-20-year-olds chanted "Carly, Carly" until she took the stage, 10 minutes late.

"Thank you so much for the gorgeous day," said the petite singer, who looks 16 but is 26.

Her catchy tune Call Me Maybe and its self-deprecating video with a surprise ending was named Video of the Year earlier this month at the MuchMusic Video Awards. The song has sold 3.3 million downloads to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Jepsen performed Call Me Maybe on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and his band The Roots. Celebrities, wannabes and the Harvard baseball team have lip-synched videos to the song.

But it was a video of fellow Canadian Bieber and his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, lip-synching her song that sparked the Call Me craze and raked in a million views during the first 24 hours. Bieber and Gomez danced with fake mustaches and banana telephones alongside music-business friends Ashley Tisdale, Big Time Rush and Boys Like Girls. Then Katy Perry, Donald Trump and beauty pageant contestants got in on it, too.

Jepsen said she has favourites among the videos of people lip-synching her song.

"The one with Justin and Selena has a special place in my heart," she said. But so does a video made by a couple of Abbotsford, B.C., football players trying to look macho, said Jepsen, a Mission, B.C., resident.

At the concert in Winnipeg, she paid homage to her roots and to staying grounded. She covered Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now and encouraged her adolescent fans to discover Mitchell's music.

Jepsen told the crowd another influence was her dad, who played guitar for her before bed when she was a little kid.

She brought out her acoustic guitar and sang Money and the Ego, a song she said she wrote about deciding whether the music business was worth it.

When asked in an interview about the ups and downs of her new-found celebrity, Jepsen said she's been waiting for them but so far there have been no "downs" in her career.

"The thing that's crazy about the last six months is that it keeps going up," she said. "I'll wake up and there's more good news, not of challenge and struggle."

Bieber tweeting about her video, then meeting him and having him champion her career, have been pivotal.

"My expectations were blown away," said Jepsen, "not just by how talented he was but how chill he was."

The fact that she's a celebrity now, too, didn't sink in until recently, when she arrived at an airport and there were paparazzi. She looked around to see who they were waiting for and found out it was her.

"I'm going to have to start dressing better," she thought at the time before mulling over the impact of a music career.

There's been a steep learning curve but she has support from management she trusts and family that's keeping her grounded, she said.

In Winnipeg, family members were at her concert Saturday.

"My nana and grandpa live here."

So do an aunt and uncle and three cousins, and Jepsen has spent time visiting the city before, and says she's experienced its hot summers.

She and her family were planning to go out for supper at The Old Spaghetti Factory Saturday night, and she was looking forward to the green ice cream for dessert, one of the things that make Winnipeg special to her. The city also dishes up talent and ideas, said the guitar-playing singer-songwriter.

"I think it's one of the best places for music."

She bristles a bit at descriptions of her as sweet and wholesome.

"I think there are other colours and different sides to me as an artist," Jepsen said.

Right now, she said, she's in songwriting mode. She disciplines herself by limiting the amount of time she spends watching TV or going online.

Jepsen said she's glad she got started young in her musical career in Canada, "a safe place."

Now she's 26 and know what she wants.

"I want to be in the driver's seat."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Humble requests for dressing room 

For her dressing room, Jepsen had a humble list of requests:

Tea with honey

A fruit and veggie tray

No cheese and no dip

"It's very basic," said Ex spokeswoman Jodi Johnson.

Jepsen's booking was fortuitous for the Ex. There's no way they could afford to book her now, Johnson said. She doesn't know if the celebrity would have asked for fancier dressing-room fare now that she's famous.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 24, 2012 A3