Daily Pulse

Carly And Japanese Counterpart Rola

Carly Rae Jepsen spent several days in Japan recently doing the rounds of TV variety shows to promote her second album, Kiss, which is receiving a huge push from the local arm of Universal Music.

Though the appearances certainly helped bring the Canadian singer’s name to the attention of the general Japanese public, her hit song, “Call Me Maybe,” received a boost from a different quarter. 

 
Rola, a 22-year-old model and TV personality with the kind of chirpy behavioral tics Japanese viewers can’t get enough of, is apparently trying to launch her own music career. 
 
In July, she released her first single, which went as high as 20 on the Japanese charts, but she’s received more attention for her decidedly amateurish lip-dubbed video performance of “Call Me Maybe.” 
 
While it hasn’t challenged Jepsen’s own version (more than 261 million hits on YouTube) it’s done wonders for both her and the song in Japan.
 
The video set up a meeting of minds, so to speak, and Rola and Jepsen had a mutual interview session at a club in Tokyo attended by scores of media people. 
 
The press was mostly locked out of the discussion in that they could watch and listen while the two young women gossiped about boys. It was the perfect promotional event.
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