Video: Julia Michaels - Issues

Julia Michaels has arrived with the hazy video for her debut single, Issues - a dreamy proto-ballad about codependency (it's much better than that makes it sound, apols).

If you haven't heard her name before, you've certainly heard her music. The songs she's written for other artists, including Selena Gomez's Good For You and Hailee Steinfeld's Love Myself, have clocked up more than 8 billion streams worldwide.

Issues is already adding to that statistic... It's up to 96 million plays on Spotify already and, hopefully, the video will give it another shot in the arm.

A star is born?

Tweet

The best and worst of New Music Friday

I listened to those whopping great Spotify / Apple "new music" playlists so you don't have to. (You're welcome, etc.)

1) Halsey - Not Afraid Anymore
Halsey kickstarts an important linguistic debate: Should it be "anymore" or "any more"?





2) Loyle Carner - Damselfly
Reflective, jazzy, superb.





3) The Chainsmokers - Paris
Fearlessly exploring the law of diminishing returns, this single "rhymes" the words Paris and parents.





4) Declan McKenna - The Kids Don't Wanna Come Home
Snackable indie-pop, as featured on the blog earlier this week. The streaming version ends with a very odd studio outtake, in which Declan is harrassed by a kid who appears to have eaten two dozen Kinder eggs.




5) Verité - Phase Me Out
Like Tove Lo, without the swears.




6) Laura Marling - Wild Fire
God, I'm so middle aged.




7) Julia Michaels - Issues
As previously noted on "these pages", this is a fantastic pop single.




666) Ralph Felix and SDJM - The Heat (I Wanna Dance With Somebody)
An assault on music. An assault on Whitney Houston. An assault on common decency.

Tweet

Julia Michaels makes a triumphant debut

You don't know Julia Michaels but you've sung along to her records. Justin Bieber's Sorry: That's one of hers. Likewise Hands To Myself by Selena Gomez and Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld.

They're all songs that feel deeply personal, despite the singer receiving a fraction of the credit. That's Julia's secret: She persuades pop stars to open up and spill their guts like a packet of cornflakes within minutes of meeting them .

"I'm like, 'Come in. Sit on the chair. Let's talk. What's going on? What happened this week? Did that make you upset?'" she told Elle last year. 

"I take everything they said in a span of 20 minutes and help them piece it together. I always try to get the most out of people."

Now she's turned the spotlight on herself for a "world, sit-up-and-pay-attention" solo song. Called Issues, it's a slight, but instantly memorable, piece of emo-pop.

The track was written by Julia along with Benjamin Levin, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen and her usual collaborator Justin Tranter; and produced by Benny Blanco and Stargate.

It's out today and you can hear it below.

Tweet