Here at Following, we do our best to inform you about the latest online trends as quickly as we can. When we know about it, you’ll know about it — except that sometimes this isn’t true. Sometimes, memes are better when not every single person on earth is aware of them. That may sound quote-unquote hipster, and, well, it is. But that’s how it goes. Sometimes fame ruins things and sometimes it doesn’t and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t factor that variable into how I choose what blog posts to write.
All of this is to say that for the last couple of weeks, I have known about a meme, and yet, I kept it to myself. I apologize.
Please enjoy… #RunAwayWithMeme.
Yes, after years of waiting, Carly Rae Jepsen has a second meme to call her very own (the first being the 2012 earworm “Call Me Maybe”). There are many different aspects to the #RunAwayWithMeme, but the two main ones involve the song’s unimpeachable saxophone opening, and the drop when it reaches the chorus.
The whole thing works a bit like Rickrolling — it plays on your expectations. Is someone going to play any sort of brass or wind instrument, or are they going to make a loud, sustained noise? Maybe replace the audio with the sax solo “Run Away With Me.” Just a suggestion.
Here is Rihanna caught off guard.
Lying just below the service of all this great meme-ing is a meta reflection on Jepsen’s career trajectory. Emotion, the album the song is from, was critically acclaimed but a commercial flop when it was released last August. Some have dismissed her as a one-hit wonder, but true fans will still find any opportunity to sing Emotion’s praises.
Really, #RunAwayWithMeme is about three things:
1. The saxophone solo is corny as hell, but it rips.
2. Not enough people listened to Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest album.
3. This song is just a banger, pure and simple.
