Carly Rae Jepsen has explained why she parted ways with longtime manager Scooter Braun, saying she realized she was on a different path than he understood. The "Call Me Maybe" singer told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Sept. 8 that there is no bad blood between her and the music executive.
"I knew that I was on a different journey than he understood," Jepsen said. "I wanted to do something a little bit less mainstream, and I liked what he had offered, but I didn't necessarily think it was what I wanted anymore."
She said the split felt like the simplest option once she recognized where her career was heading. "I felt like it was just going to be a little bit easier to shake hands, walk away and go let my freak flag fly, so to speak," she said.
Jepsen, 40, added that she didn't leave empty-handed, joking, "I took one of his employees with me." She said she is now "happier than I've ever been," though building the right setup took time. "I've had some good experiences with people, and I've had hard ones too," she said. "It's taken a second to figure out the right team for my management."
A decade-long partnership
Jepsen, who first rose to fame as a contestant on Canadian Idol, signed with Braun in 2011 after catching the attention of his then-client Justin Bieber, whom Braun had discovered and signed years earlier as a teenager. Braun went on to build a career managing major pop acts.
Jepsen's representative first confirmed the split to the Associated Press in 2023, saying the singer had cut ties with Braun professionally. No reason was given for the decision at the time. A representative for Braun did not respond to a request for comment on Jepsen's remarks.
Braun's fallout and reconciliation with Bieber
When Jepsen's split from Braun was first reported in 2023, Braun was also facing rumors of a falling-out with Bieber. The two ultimately reached a financial agreement in 2025, with Bieber, 32, agreeing to pay his former manager, 45, $31.5 million over show cancellations and unpaid commission.
Braun has since retired from artist management altogether, but he has said his story with Bieber is "not done."
"That's what happens with relationships like that," Braun said on a 2025 episode of the Question Everything podcast. "They ebb and they flow. They go up and down. Sometimes, they go in one direction and sometimes they go another, but you always keep your heart open to the fact that that's family and you have each other's back in the end."
Braun said Bieber was "ready to really control his own destiny" when the two went their separate ways, and he insisted he holds no ill will toward the "Baby" singer. "I respect completely that he is his own man now and he wants to build his career moving forward the way he sees fit and he should," Braun said. "The same way I respect the fact that I want to build my life a certain way moving forward."
