Carly Rae Jepsen, like most-anyone at her level of success, is quite the polarising figure. Her brand of bubbly pop music, best encapsulated by inescapable hit ‘Call Me Maybe,’ is either ridiculously catchy or insufferably annoying, depending on who you ask. For our money, we’re happy to take those glossy arrangements in small doses, which makes the prospect of new double album ‘Day and Night’ a tough pill to swallow. To no-one’s surprise, the record could’ve used some tightening up in a few spots.

This eighty-four minute juggernaut is split into two discs for a specific purpose: Jepsen has separated her sing-along tunes from her dance numbers this time around, giving rise to the record’s ‘Day and Night’ concept. The album’s first half is the softer of the two, housing more of the straightforward pop essentials the singer is known for— it’s odd, then, to see her missing the mark right here in the beginning, where she should be at her most comfortable. Neither the start-stop pacing of ‘After All’ nor the monotonous melodies of ‘Habits of Creatures’ act as a solid tone setter for the project, which has a little more gas in the tank than these drab number would have you believe. It’s not until the impressively bold production of lead single ‘On Wires’ floods your speakers that Jepsen finally steps into the spotlight.

The very nature of this ‘Day’ disc— the slow burning side of the project that gives way to something more energetic— forces these songs to restrain themselves, leaving us with a crop of tracks that feels mixed, to say the least. There are certainly standouts to consider here, whether we’re discussing the mixture of infectious bass work and opulent strings on ‘Blue Skies,’ the confident pop performance on ‘Good Fine Alright’ or the well-rounded writing that stands out on ‘Lonely Side of the Bed:’ what Jepsen fails to do even here, though, is truly get you invested. The extreme cautiousness you can hear across ‘Soft’ and ‘Just a Little Walk on the Moon,’ both instrumentally and vocally, is pleasant enough, but it also has these songs feeling more than a little generic. On ‘Versailles’ and ‘Burning Heart,’ the project is on autopilot.

It’s remarkable, really, how engaging the dance pop of ‘Never Let a Good Thing Die’ is coming off of ‘Just a Little Walk on the Moon:’ if ‘Day’ suffered for its concept, ‘Night’ is uplifted by it. In its second half, the album finds room for more of the character and the energy that made ‘Emotion’ such a hit a decade ago, making way for a disc that hits the ground running. The excellent bass work we mentioned before really pays off here, opening the door for the throwback goodness of ‘Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor’ to somewhat steal the show. Carly Rae Jepsen isn’t going to pack out the club like some of her modern contemporaries, of course, but anyone going into ‘Day and Night’ looking for high-octane dance music is barking up the wrong tree. ‘Patience Power Passion’ and ‘No Labels, I Love You’ are certainly endearing inclusions.

Even having said that, it does feel like the record breaks its promise as it goes on, finding room on ‘Night’ for a plethora of slower numbers that would’ve fit onto ‘Day’ quite cleanly— ‘Super Sage’ and ‘That’s Just Me,’ in particular, feel like padding on an already bloated album. This second disc does house some softer tunes here and there, but they tend to feel a little more purposeful than something like ‘After All’ before them: ‘Amalfi Coast’ and ‘Diver’ are both dominated by distant synths and easy-going tempos, but their mixture of solid rhythm parts and cheerful melodies will keep you engaged regardless. In some ways, Jepsen is making a smart move here, playing to her strengths by leaning closer to ‘pop’ than she does to ‘dance.’ Even if some of this material feels rather pedestrian, it usually steer clear of resembling Madonna’s ‘CONFESSIONS II’ from earlier this year.

‘Day and Night’ shot itself in the foot right from its premise, which is unfortunate to see: you have to imagine that Jepsen couldn’t turn back once the project’s two-disc concept was decided upon, results be damned. In a Dickensian twist, this is a tale of two albums, and one is much more memorable than the other. ‘Night’ may not be setting the world on fire, but it’s a solid piece of pop music from one of the genre’s most celebrated figures. ‘Day,’ we could take or leave.