Similar to Carly – Phoebe Ryan

Discussion

I am curious as to whether anyone else here is aware of Phoebe and listens to her music.

Not only is Phoebe similar to Carly, but she has also even worked together with Carly in the past (not on any songs, though). In 2019, Phoebe opened for part of Carly's Dedicated Tour, so Carly definitely knows Phoebe.

Additionally, "The Knocks" has recently been mentioned on this sub, and Carly and Phoebe are featured on the same Knocks album, "55".

Among my favourite artists, Phoebe is in my top eight.

Phoebe's sound is similar to Carly's "Cut to the Feeling". I know that a lot of people like that song. Phoebe's "Chronic" is close to it.

Phoebe's best song, in my opinion, is "Dead". It sounds similar to Carly's "Roses".

Overall, Phoebe manages to sound similar to Carly whilst clearly having her own identity. I've been following Phoebe since 2019 (before I knew that she was on the Dedicated Tour). Her vocals are very wispy.

Notably, Phoebe is the third artist that I ever covered (as a musician myself), after Carly Rae Jepsen (1st) and The Beatles (2nd). This was back in 2019, when I was learning to transcribe and compose music on Musescore. I transcribed Phoebe's song "Should I" (but with just the piano, and no drums etc).

in carlyraejepsenby MiserandusKunTurn Me Up

86%

Prudent-Elk-4012

Yes, I have Phoebe’s album and it’s good pop. She doesn’t seem to do much anymore, though.

MiserandusKun

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I think Phoebe's problem is that she doesn't have a very big fanbase. In comparison, many Jepsies complain that Carly is underrated, but Carly is actually one of the most successful artists within her niche of the music industry. Phoebe is basically in the same niche as Carly but is less famous.

For a while, I had a habit of only following one artist very closely and practically ignoring others. (This mainly pertained to Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Michelle Branch, who were my favourites one-after-the-other over the years).

Recently, I have started diversifying and embracing all of the numerous artists (including bands) that I follow. I've compiled a list of every single artist under the sun that I've ever encountered, and the number is a staggering 700+ artists.

I have roughly 10–20 favourite artists, with several potential favourites on the sidelines.

FamousConversation64

I love Michelle and Carly!

lotionistic

🍰

I’m pretty sure Phoebe opened for Carly on the Dedicated tour. It was her and a guitar, so not much rocking out.

MiserandusKun

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That's right, Dr. Google confirms this. I discovered Phoebe (via Spotify auto-play) a few months before the Dedicated Tour. Given that I never attended the tour, I had no idea that Phoebe was featured in it up until recently. I was very excited when I found out that she was featured, since I had no idea that two of my favourite artists had worked together before.

Reportedly, Phoebe's vocals were sampled for Carly's songs "Fever" and "The One". They were modified to sound like an instrument, which is a trick that EDM producers like to do. (Note: This is hearsay, and I don't have direct evidence, although the conversation in the link speaks for itself).
- https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/e8yayg/comment/fafhdmt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

BlackFriday247

Phoebe has had some shit luck. Her first full album was released at the beginning of Covid so she couldn't tour it or do much promotion.

And then 2 years ago as she was about to start doing more she was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy and has been dealing with that since. She still is writing for other artists here and there from her socials.

She's a great person though and I'm sure she'll find success with whatever she does.

MiserandusKun

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I'm sorry to hear about the palsy. That's certainly very difficult. (EDIT: I can't spell).

The thing I like about Phoebe, compared to some other artists that I follow, is that she is a songwriter (for other artists) and producer, in addition to being an artist (vocalist). This makes her the most "DIY" out of the artists that I follow closely. (I also follow other similar artists, but not as closely). I am also a musician, and I'm pretty much only able to DIY it most of the time; I don't have a big team.

Most of my favourite artists are either singer-songwriters who get other people to produce for them, or they are a band.

Phoebe is one of my favourite artists aside from Carly, and she's very similar to Carly whilst not being a copycat.

The artists that I follow range relatively widely in genres, although singer-songwriter and pop is what I'm most interested in. The genres can include synth-pop, pop rock, folk-pop, disco, indie pop, soft rock, etc. (all different flavours of pop or rock).

Synth-pop: Carly Rae Jepsen, Phoebe Ryan, Fickle Friends

Pop rock: Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, The Goo Goo Dolls, Aly & AJ

Both SP and PR: Taylor Swift

General pop: Austin Mahone, Samantha Jade

caladan-1

Check out Pixey. She is a really talented singer-songwriter-producer.

MiserandusKun

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Sure.

jerelminter

I know who Phoebe Ryan is, we used ro text a lot and she used to do Twitch videos of herself playing video games, mostly Super Mario 64.

MiserandusKun

Turn Me Up

Wow, that's sick! Artists often seem so above me; I would never even think to connect directly with any of them.

jerelminter

It's only the bigger artists with a large following that don't respond to their fans, but it's not because they're above you. It's because they get so many text messages from a lot of different people, that it's damn near impossible to get a response from them. Unless you're in their circle of friends, or if you're related to them. Try reaching out to less famous people, for better results.

MiserandusKun

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I may attempt to contact Phoebe in the near future. There's a non-zero chance that she will respond.

Phoebe is legitimately one of my favourite artists of all time. I basically like her equally as much as Carly, and to me, these two artists could practically be sisters. However, there's such a huge number of songs that Carly has released and I'm familiar with (125+), whereas I'm only familiar with a relatively small sample of Phoebe's songs (17+).

Phoebe's song "Dead" is one of my favourite songs of all time, up there alongside Carly's "Emotion", for example.

jerelminter

Phoebe isn't on Instagram that much anymore, you should've started texting her a few years earlier like I did. That's how I got all of those replys from her.

MiserandusKun

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I will find a way. 👍

Btw, I am a musician myself, although I've only recently begun to participate more actively in supporting my favourite artists. I've been following Carly since 2015, but only from a distance. Listening to everything she has ever released, without ever actually attending one of her concerts (up until 2023), buying any of her merch, or attempting to contact her. Basically, I was a "secret" superfan, supporting her as much as I could, but not outwardly being fanatical about her. (This is largely due to my circumstances at the time, including a lack of money, lack of independence, focusing on high school, lack of like-minded friends, etc).

In 2021, I started studying music full-time at a college here in Sydney, which has continued up until 2024. So, at this point, I have accrued a vast amount of knowledge about the music industry. Beforehand, I was always interested in music as a hobby, but it took the backseat.

jerelminter

I became a Carly fan around the time of her popularity she was getting from her Call Me Maybe song in 2012, but didn't know much about her other than that, until I started listening to her other songs and that's how I got hooked. I didn't go out of my way to meet her until 2015, but I failed a couple of times before I succeeded in 2016, with Carly's appearance on Kelly Ripa's show (that I got a front row seat to), and that's when I saw her in person for the first time.

I got to see Carly singing live in 2018, but didn't get close to her like I did before.

MiserandusKun

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My problem (on top of everything else) is that I live in Australia, far away from the homeland of many of my favourite artists, North America. So, it's inconvenient for me to attend their concerts. Additionally, the music scene in Australia is much more low-key than the scene in North America. I'm also generally quite isolated in my daily life, so most of my "news" is directly obtained by myself. Essentially, if I'm not paying attention, a big news story can just go over my head (because no one else is telling me about it).

I initially discovered Carly in 2012, although I didn't start following her until 2015. I was already a low-level fan back in 2012–13 (Call Me Maybe, Good Time, and Beautiful).

When I discovered Carly in 2015, it was via the album Kiss, after which I branched out to Tug of War and Curiosity, in 2016.

I began exploring Emotion, Emotion Side B, and Carly's collaborations (e.g. "Backseat") in 2016–18.

jerelminter

Yeah, I get it. I live in North America, so I get news faster than you do. I discovered Carly like you did, but I found out about Tug Of War earlier, during the time when the Call Me Maybe stuff was going on, because Emotion and all of her later albums weren't made yet.

MiserandusKun

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I just put this together. It's a list of my favourite artists, ranked according to how much I like them. (It's on Spotify).

Phoebe is fifth on the list.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4JbYSKxViVo0jmNRKJ90Xs?si=FtRHEIgiT4KsrAm6BPL_wg&pi=G5NhihC0QWCXQ

insincerely-yours

I got everything he needs

I like some of Phoebe’s songs! “Should I” is probably my favorite. But I haven’t enjoyed a full project from her so far; I usually just like a few specific songs but not the whole thing.

MiserandusKun

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Phoebe released a "new" album in 2020, which I only discovered this year, 2024 (so, I'm very late to the party).

Nonetheless, I've started listening to it, and it certainly has some bops. It's not in-your-face popping, but it has this nice chill indie vibe to it (more indie than Carly's recent music, I would argue). "How it Used to Feel" is the album; I've listened to three tracks so far, and "Exist" is a good one (they're all good so far).

insincerely-yours

I got everything he needs

Yep I checked that album out back when it was released! I saved “Talk to Me”, “See Myself”, and “A Thousand Ways” from it, the rest of the album didn’t click with me - but I might have to revisit the whole thing after all these years and see if anything else sticks out now. I don’t really remember anything from it apart from the three tracks I mentioned above.

MiserandusKun

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You're certainly more on the ball than I am... As I said, I only explored that album four years after it was released, and Phoebe is one of my favourite artists.

I am typically late to exploring new albums. Carly's "The Loneliest Time" was released in 2022, but I only listened to three tracks at the time, before finally exploring the rest of the album in 2024, one-and-a-half years later. I haven't even listened to "The Loveliest Time" yet, and Carly is supposed to be my co-favourite artist (alongside Michelle Branch).

The reason I'm late to exploring new albums is three-fold. Firstly, I need time to process the songs that I have already listened to. I need to digest old material before consuming new material. Secondly, I am often digging around in the historical archives of music (both of my own favs and of classical artists from decades gone by), and new releases often take a backseat. Thirdly, I often don't feel the need to find new music, even by my own favourite artists. If I'm satisfied by the music that I already have on repeat, then there isn't really an incentive to explore beyond that.

Only recently, has it occurred to me that I should probably support my favourite artists more strongly. Over the past few years, I have been studying and training to become a musician in my own right, and it has only just recently occurred to me how difficult it is to make a living and stay relevant in this industry. I attended Carly's "The So Nice Tour" concert in Sydney in 2023, which is the first time that I've ever attended one of Carly's concerts, even though Carly has been my favourite artist since 2015.

MiserandusKun

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For further context, my favourite artists include Carly Rae Jepsen, Taylor Swift, Michelle Branch, Phoebe Ryan, Vanessa Carlton, Aly & AJ, Fickle Friends, and The Goo Goo Dolls. (Austin Mahone and Samantha Jade* are probably my 9th and 10th favourites, overall).

In the beginning, I was following Taylor (pre-2012), before discovering Carly, Austin, and Samantha shortly afterwards (~2012–13). In 2019, I discovered many new artists, including Michelle, Phoebe, Vanessa, Aly & AJ, and Fickle Friends. In 2023, I discovered TGGD.

*Samantha is from Australia, my country.

MiserandusKun

Turn Me Up

Also, for the record, I discovered Phoebe in January 2019, after her song "Middle Finger" (collab with Quinn XCII) was auto-played by Spotify. Even though this song wasn't necessarily among my favourites (it didn't even chart in my top 100 in 2019), I was intrigued by the unique vocals of Phoebe, and I explored her work further, discovering songs such as Mine, Chronic, and Should I; the latter two charted in my top 100). I didn't realise that Carly knew Phoebe until years later.

Subsequently, Phoebe's song "Dead" gradually cemented itself as one of my favourite songs of all time, and I've regularly listed it among my favourite songs for the past few years. Dead is the linchpin of Phoebe's artistry that makes me fully support her, alongside a handful of other songs.

Typically, an artist needs at least one or two songs that are "part of the furniture" for me to get behind them. Songs that are so good that I can't live without them, and which can't be replicated or surpassed by any other artist. Phoebe is one of these artists, whose unique artistry has a special place in my playlists, alongside a mosaic of others.