"Curiosity" is a song recorded by Canadian singer

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

for her extended play ''

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

'' (2012). It was released as the second single from the EP on May 1, 2012, through

604 Records 604 Records (stylized as VIOIV Records) is a music production company. It is named after area code 604 of the Lower Mainland, where the company's offices are located. History The company was co-founded by Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger and ...

. Produced and co-written by Ryan Stewart, "Curiosity" is an upbeat pop track that is influenced by

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

. Lyrically, the track alludes to a girl who is poorly treated by a bad boy, and begs for more of his love. It received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics, who deemed it similar to Jepsen's previous single, "

Call Me Maybe "Call Me Maybe" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen from her extended play ''Curiosity'' (2012) and later appeared on her second studio album and international debut album ''Kiss'' (2012). The song was written by Jepsen an ...

". Following its release, the track reached number 18 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

. A new version of the track was included on her international debut album ''

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

''.

Background and release

Jepsen's first single, "

", was released only in Canada on September 20, 2011. In January 2012, pop singers

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

and

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

were in the country and heard the track on the mainstream radio. After they tweeted about it on their personal profiles, Jepsen instantly gained international attention, and got signed by

Scooter Braun Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun ( ; born June 18, 1981) is an American businessman, investor, and record executive. Since 2023 he has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Hybe America, the North American subsidiary of South Korean entertain ...

to his

Schoolboy Records Schoolboy Records is an American record label established in 2007 by Scooter Braun, as an imprint of Universal Music Group's Republic Records. Schoolboy Records' first success was with Asher Roth's 2009 single, " I Love College," along with his ...

. Braun revealed that Bieber has "never jumped out and promoted an artist like this before. He sends me different YouTube videos of unsigned artists that he'd like to work with, but never someone who already had a song out and is on the radio." Worldwide distribution of the single was done through

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

. "

" attained worldwide success, reaching number one in Australia, Canada, United States, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, while peaking inside the top ten in Belgium, Netherlands and Norway. Following the surprising performance of the single, Jepsen's second studio effort, ''

'', was released on February 14, 2012, in Canada only, where it debuted and peaked at number six. The title track was written by Jepsen, while song production and additional writing was done by Ryan Stewart.''

'' liner notes.

(2012) It was released as the second single from the EP on May 1, 2012.

Composition and reception

The song features

beats and catchy hooks. In the song, Jepsen sings about being poorly treated by a bad boy, and begs for more of his love, opening the song with the lines, "Break a bone, got me on my knees / You break my heart, just to watch it bleed". "Curiosity" received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics. Before its release as a single, Ben Norman of

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

noted that the track was "the obvious follow up to '

' although stresses the beats a little more than I'd personally like." Jon O'Brien of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said that both "Curiosity" and "Picture" are "convincing forays into infectious

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

," while Fiona Eadie of Cadence Canada said that the song is "still amazingly upbeat." Jen Appel of

idobi Radio idobi Radio (), is an alternative Internet radio station in the United States, that plays new alternative music. Since its establishment in 1999, the station has utilized its website, app, and iTunes platform for broadcasting over the Internet ...

considered "Curiosity" similar to "

", adding that the song "brings the same lighthearted vibe while touching on a more personal note. This song encompasses the feelings of a girl fighting to keep her relationship alive while struggling with the ever-present curiosity of 'what ifs'."

Promotion

Music video

Jepsen shot a video for the song on June 5, 2012, with director Colin Minihan. The music video was not released, and leaked on November 25, 2012. According to the description of the leak, "this video was shelved because it was "too sexy" for her new tween demographic." The video starts with Jepsen on a

taxi cab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

with rainy weather. She writes a text message that reads, "Where are you? I'm outside". She then leaves the cab, and runs into an unknown house. She knocks at the door, but with no answer, she looks under the carpet under her feet and find a key, with which she enters the house to find a long hallway full of doors and an image of herself at the end, now with different clothes. Jepsen keeps opening different doors, only to find other hallways. The scene then cuts to a bedroom where she meets her love interest, and they make love together. Back to the hallway, Jepsen opens another door where she sees a video of her wedding with the same guy. It cuts again to the bedroom, when it's revealed that there is another woman in the bedroom who stares at them both with a sadness expression on her face. Then we see Jepsen and the love interest fighting outside of the house in the middle of rain, only to find out that he had actually cheated on her with that other woman and she had discovered at that moment. She runs outside of the house and goes back to the cab.

Live performances

On March 26, 2012, Jepsen visited

WBBM-FM WBBM-FM (96.3 MHz, "B96") is a gold-based contemporary hit radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,300 watts, transmitting from atop the Willis Tower (formerly th ...

's Morning Show and performed two tracks of her EP, "

" and "Curiosity". In the last week of January 2013, the singer filmed an acoustic performance of the song in Tokyo exclusively for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''.

Track listing

*Digital download # "Curiosity" – 3:26

Charts and certifications

Charts

Following its release, "Curiosity" reached the position of 18 on the

. The song is her second top 20 hit on chart.

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Carly Rae Jepsen songs 604 Records singles Songs written by Ryan Stewart (songwriter) 2012 songs Songs written by Carly Rae Jepsen