2012 will be remembered for countless things, but most of these memories will be soundtracked by Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," a song that pretty much single-handedly reminded everyone why pop music matters.
It's easy to forget in the song's stratospheric rise that, while Justin Bieber may have accelerated its ascent — or, let's be honest, got people to give it a chance in the first place — the song was written, recorded and released well before Biebz and his wunderkind manager Scooter Braun got involved.
It's even easier to forget, albeit mostly because few people ever knew, that the now-classic song was co-written by Josh Ramsay, the emo-haired lead singer of Canadian pop-rock outfit Marianas Trench.
But even if most "Call Me Maybe" fans (or, rather, most people) have no idea about Ramsay's Carly Rae connection, important industry players are now well aware of his role in creating one of the most indelible pop songs in recent memory.
"Just more opportunities to work with bigger artists," Ramsay told HuffPost Canada Music backstage at We Day in Calgary when asked about the song's impact on him personally. "But life goes on, you feel thankful for the opportunities you got and just keep going with your own stuff. I think it opened some doors for me as a writer/producer, and for us as a band, it brought some notoriety to us, as well. Only upsides."
Oh, and if you think the song's popularity, which included a nine-week stint at number one in the U.S. as well as sales topping 10 million worldwide, was surprising to us, imagine being the dude that co-wrote it?
"It's crazy," he said of the song which was initially released in Canada in September 2011 to a lukewarm response, debuting at 97 on the top 100 and not topping the chart until 17 weeks later.
"I thought it was good, but I was, like, maybe this will help Carly break into the mainstream of Canadian pop. I did not think it was going to be a worldwide thing. But… sweet. I feel grateful."
Though Jepsen, under the direction of new manger Braun, brought in mostly songwriting heavyweights like Dallas Austin, LMFAO's Redfoo and Swedish mastermind Max Martin to help on her Kiss album, Ramsay did get to write one more tune with her, "Guitar String / Wedding Ring."
"It was written much after 'Call Me Maybe,'" he said. "I don't know if that's a single or not. I hope so."
But after catching lightning in a bottle on his first go-round, don't think Ramsay is feeling like he got bumped for bigger names.
"Dude, Max Martin is like one of my heroes, actually. I think the guy is a pop genius," Ramsay enthused. "I didn't even think about that until you said it but that'd be the first time I got a song on a record with that guy!"