[5][6][7][8] Looking to transition from the bubblegum pop-oriented nature of her second studio album, Kiss (2012), Jepsen found inspiration in 1980s music and alternative styles.

She enlisted a team of mainstream and indie collaborators, including Sia, Mattman & Robin, Dev Hynes, Ariel Rechtshaid, Rostam Batmanglij, Greg Kurstin, and Peter Svensson of the Cardigans, culminating in a largely synth-pop-centric effort.

[13][14] Following the sudden worldwide success of "Call Me Maybe" in 2012, Jepsen found that the song had become "[this] huge, ginormous thing that really overshadowed the rest of our project" and further singles issued from Kiss failed to gain traction.

She met with her record label and management after The Summer Kiss Tour wrapped up in late 2013, stating: "'I want you to put your faith in me that I'll come back when it's ready,' and they did and I'm very lucky to have a team that wasn't about trying to mass produce things and was really more looking at the quality of it.

With help from guitarist Tavish Crowe, Jepsen began reaching out to artists she admired to see if they were interested in collaborating, including Tegan and Sara, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Shellback.

[19][20] Feeling that the demo project was developed for the wrong reasons, Jepsen ultimately scrapped it: "I think there is a natural rebellion when you have success in one area to completely rebel against that.

Jepsen's work on Cinderella provided valuable perspective in terms of being defined by a single attribute, particularly from her costar Fran Drescher: "Everyone still calls her 'the Nanny'.

"[22]Due to her dissatisfaction with Kiss's constrained timeframe of two months,[23] Jepsen went into Emotion with the intent of crafting a project that was authentic and allowed her to approach different avenues.

[28] These themes were further explored through "old-school" Prince and Madonna records on morning runs before Cinderella rehearsals: "What I loved was how potent some of those [1980s] lyrics were—how heart wrenching, how everyone's tea leaves are just right there on their sleeve.

'"[29] An epiphany came to Jepsen after finishing "Emotion", the album's title track, where she found that a 1980s pop sound, combined with a more "alternative" production, was what she had been seeking.

[25] This fashioned the album's direction entirely–Emotion developed as a midway point between the "pure" pop she recorded in Los Angeles and the indie-folk effort that was scrapped in New York.

He was eventually "won over" by Jepsen's demonstration of her vocal ability and work ethic, and credited her with genuine intentions of "[developing] a new aesthetic" versus pursuing "Pitchfork-approved artists" for the sake of indie credibility.

[37][38] These sessions materialized in its lead single "I Really Like You", written with Peter Svensson of the Cardigans, "Your Type" with Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, and the Mattman & Robin-produced "Run Away with Me" which developed over two separate trips to the country.

[49][50][51] Consequence of Sound summed the record up as a "more mature, sophisticated version of her [Kiss] hyperpop", Jepsen elaborating: "I wanted to kind of blur the lines of what [a pop album] needed to be.

[54][31] The lyrics on Emotion "shade her old ebullience with darker, more complex feelings", and it is sonically grounded with "earthier textures" from 80s R&B–cleansing herself of the Cinderella performances during the record's production.

"[54][53] Jepsen penned "Your Type" with Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk at four in the morning when she was "losing her mind": "They got me hooked for a week on those little fake cigarettes that taste of strawberries.

Elsewhere, sections of "Warm Blood" were sung in a lower pitch; Jepsen was to re-record these parts as she came to the session with "shot vocals", however its "smokier" quality abandoned these plans.

[59] Brad Nelson of The Guardian compared Jepsen's performance to that of Ezra Koenig's "machine-produced flexibility" on the Vampire Weekend song, "Diane Young".

Ariel Rechsthaid reworked the chord progression in order to invoke a sense of "desperation", droning through it with a series of bell notes that made the composition sound "a little bit more somber".

The "five-string, funk-R&B" bass line was played by Ethan Farmer, and the drum fill, "an 80s kind-of snare with a big reverb on it," was inspired by John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane".

[61] "When I'm Alone", a song written and co-composed by Jepsen during sessions for Emotion, was eventually purchased by SM Entertainment and given to K-pop girl group f(x) for their album 4 Walls.

[79] Its music video, directed by Gia Coppola, premiered November 3, 2015, and follows Jepsen on a Cinderella-inspired story where her character fantasizes about becoming a pop star.

[94][95][96] Sasha Geffen of Consequence of Sound wrote, "Few artists have taken a logarithmic hit like "Call Me Maybe" as a sign to push even further, to make something better, more human, and more electric.

[94] Corban Goble of Pitchfork commented, "It's unfair to deeply scrutinize lyrics on a pop record—the goal is to write smart, but skew broad—but Emotion fails to tell us who Jepsen is or wants to be.

"[89] Similarly, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times scrutinizes the heavy-lifting done by Emotion's cast of collaborators: "Maybe Ms. Jepsen's choices merely reinforce the new centrist pop model of ’80s sleekness [...]; but why fall under the spell of someone else's cool when you can luxuriate in the stink of your own cheese?

"[99] In a similar conclusion, Evan Sawdey of PopMatters writes that "Emotion is still a very pleasing album if not just a shade overambitious, clearly trying too hard to make the same genius pop moments that Kiss churned them out with effortless flair.

[131][132] James Rettig of Stereogum writes, "The lead-up to Emotion played out like a lesson in what not to do with a pop singer sitting precariously on the edge between cultural ubiquity and cult following.

[133] FasterLouder's Jules LeFevre noted that Jepsen's decision against promoting any archetypal identity rendered herself "indistinct" in the "crowded pop landscape".

[133] Whereas music critics were "compelled by the narrative of a one-hit wonder trying to rebuild herself", as quipped by Battan, Caitlin White of Uproxx writes, "I think Emotion wouldn't be as meaningful if we had to share it with capitalism's steely machinery; its commercial failure is part of what makes it continue to feel intimate, ours.

"[10][135] Emotion is noted for garnering Jepsen a large LGBTQ audience,[136][137][138] Brandon Tensley of Pacific Standard opining that her music "taps into a shared queer history of escape, possibility, and disappointment", likening her to Kylie Minogue.