Julia Michaels has spent the past two years penning hits for some of pop music’s biggest names, but now she’s ready to step into the spotlight herself.
Julia — who with Justin Tranter co-write Justin Bieber‘s “Sorry,” Nick Jonas‘ “Close,” Selena Gomez‘s “Good for You” and “Hands to Myself,” Britney Spears‘ “Slumber Party,” Gwen Stefani‘s “Used to Love You” and Hailee Steinfeld‘s Love Myself” — has now released her debut single. It’s called “Issues,” and it’s the first release from her upcoming debut album.
The song was inspired by Julia’s real-life relationship with her boyfriend, and features her singing, “I got issues, but you got ’em too/So give ’em all to me and I’ll give mine to you/ Yeah I got issues/and one of them is how bad I need you.” The song features a unique soundscape made up of strings and electronically-treated backing voices.
In a statement, Julia says, “My boyfriend and I like to fight a lot. I have a lot of problems. He has a lot of problems. Somehow, we always work them out and find a way back to each other.”
“‘Issues’ is knowing and accepting you have problems and your partner has problems and when s*** gets hard, you don’t just walk away, you make it work — no matter how f***** up you are,” she adds. “You’re there for each other.”
