What we’re trying to say is, we were into her before you were.
[Video][Website]
[5.71]
Andy Hutchins: Carly Rae Jepsen will never eclipse “Call Me Maybe,” and every song she (or new career pilot Scooter Braun) releases is going to suffer for the comparison; “Curiosity” is one of them, and not just because “Call” production wizard Josh Ramsay is swapped out for Ryan Stewart on the boards. Jepsen’s bright, sweet voice works well with soft keys in general, but there’s a soft-loud-soft-loud attempt here that doesn’t have the proper loud to work it, and the switch from “key/me/me” to “go” in the pre-hook is jarring. (I rewrite lyrics in my head all the time: “Curiosity could never kill me” would be a much better hook, no?)
[5]
Anthony Easton: I love the half-spoken singing, and the ever so slight rev up, and how she breaks open into a delightful self-loathing. In addition, I love the onomatopoeic syllables, the hints at faking the snaps. I hate the teenage drama of it, which is not very skilled teenage drama either. Plus sometimes rhyming “go” with “oh oh oh-oh” is a little worn out.
[5]
Iain Mew: On, you know, that other song, I said that giving Carly and the strings the space to bounce around in worked wonders, and I’m more even more convinced now that I was right. “Curiosity” lights up every time it gives space to her subtly extraordinary voice and falls down only when it gets too cluttered in the chorus. Well, that and the misguided key change.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I’ve wondered what a Kylie-Jennifer hybrid sounded like (Paige of “Crush” fame, of course).
[6]
Edward Okulicz: I’m enjoying how “Curiosity,” like “Call Me Maybe” has a modern sheen while giving absolutely no concession to anything other than its own proud lineage of female-sung teen-pop. In essence, it’s a wonderfully classicist bit of work in a genre for which the idea of classicism seems ridiculous. It’s no better than an average Debbie Gibson single, mind you, and it certainly didn’t need a key change.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: Have we been so bludgeoned by overproduction, summer in and winter out, that something sundress-thin like “Curiosity,” orchestrated entirely by jingle-bell necklaces and the shimmer sounds from “Lucky Star,” sounds new and curious? I do. The fact that someone older than me is making teen pop should bother me more than it does. So should the key change.
[7]
Brad Shoup: Like The Big One, “Curiosity” begins delicately enough, but the approach isn’t carried through. Eighth notes on organ and an R&B vocal cast code a tad more corporeal than the expected synths, I suppose, but they’re no strings. Oh, and if you can’t make the handclaps fun, don’t bother.
[5]