Owl City duets with Carly Rae Jepsen on his new single

The currently No. 1 hitmaker behind "Call Me Maybe" could help bring the formerly No. 1 hitmaker behind "Fireflies" back to the charts.

June 20, 2012 at 9:36PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Adam Young at home in Owatonna last year, where he does all his recording. / Richard Sennott, Star Tribune
Adam Young at home in Owatonna last year, where he does all his recording. / Richard Sennott, Star Tribune (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Owl City hasn't landed a song anywhere near the top of the Billboard charts since "Fireflies" flittered to No. 1 in late-2009, but the Minnesota wunderkind also known as Adam Young did at least snag the pop star with the country's current No. 1 song to duet with him on his new single. Canadian starlet Carly Rae Jepsen – whose "Call Me Maybe" is everywhere these days, including a viral-hit sendup courtesy Jimmy Fallon -- guest stars in the emphatically bubbly new song, "Good Time," which debuted today on Owl City's Soundcloud page. Billboard has already trumpeted the song as "a track that could become a radio staple for the rest of the summer." Here it is posted below.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The single officially hits iTunes on Tuesday and comes off the third Owl City album, "The Midsummer Station," which will actually land in late summer (Aug. 14). Some of Young's other collaborators on the new record include Blink-182's Mark Hoppus and songwriter/producers Emily Wright (Britney Spears, Usher) and Stargate (Rihanna, Beyonce).

While the new single sounds as giddy and Disney-ready as all his other songs, "Good Time" does feature some dance-clubby lyrics that could be construed as (gasp!) partying lyrics from the Young, such as, ""Hands up if you're down to get down tonight." He also drops in a reference to a fellow Minnesotan at the start of the song: "Woke up on the right side of the bed / What's up with this Prince song inside my head?"

Young and his Owl City band will return to the Varsity Theater on July 13 to preview the album. The show is already sold-out. Jepsen will join her pal and countryman Justin Bieber on tour this fall, including their Oct. 20 date at Target Center. Amazingly, her record isn't even out yet, but it will be by then.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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