{"id":28635,"date":"2024-12-30T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28635"},"modified":"2024-12-02T11:12:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:12:09","slug":"julia-michaels-a-different-kind-of-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/julia-michaels-a-different-kind-of-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Michaels: A Different Kind of ‘Heaven’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This story appeared previously in SPIN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pop singer-songwriter leans into her indie status with a provocative new single<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When she first broke out on the scene, Julia Michaels showcased a vulnerable, inward-looking lyrical perspective underscored by a dreamy and romantic musical style. And while her new single \u2013 \u201cHeaven II,\u201d released November 8 \u2013 doesn\u2019t wholly abandon those lyrical and musical values, it moves forward as a bold statement of liberation, signaling the start of a new chapter for the pop singer-songwriter.<\/p>\n

Julia Michaels\u2019 path through the pop music world hasn\u2019t followed a traditional script. The Davenport, Iowa native got her start as a singer at age 12, but as she entered her teenage years, Michaels established herself primarily as a songwriter. By her 20th<\/sup> birthday, Michaels had written several television themes as well as songs for Ross Lynch, Selena Gomez, Fifth Harmony, Demi Lovato and even Creed\u2019s Scott Stapp.<\/p>\n

Working behind the scenes in those days, Michaels developed a reputation as an in-demand collaborator, lending her lyrical creativity to projects that often involved multiple writers. \u201cSometimes it would be an artist, two songwriters and a producer,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd maybe the producer would have someone on the side making guitar loops. And all of a sudden there\u2019s eight [credited composers] on the song, and you\u2019re like, \u2018How did that even happen!?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaels knows how the business works, and she\u2019s an enthusiastic and effective participant in those kinds of writing sessions. But she says that her favorite writing situation is when the work involves her plus an artist and a producer. \u201cI work with a lot of the same people that I\u2019ve known for years,\u201d she says. \u201cAny time I get to work with people who understand me<\/i>, I understand them<\/i>. When we\u2019re not regimented, we can go into a room and try all different kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her skills writing songs for other artists remained razor-sharp, Michaels inevitably began writing for herself, crafting songs that expressed her own perspective. Her debut single, 2017\u2019s \u201cIssues\u201d explored emotional themes; anxiety and fear of the unknown are at the core of the downtempo pop song. \u201cIssues\u201d peaked at #11 on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s Hot 100 and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 60th<\/sup> Annual Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n

More singles followed. Both as a solo artist and in collaboration with big names including Gomez, One Direction\u2019s Niall Horan and Keith Urban, Michaels has released more than 30 singles to date, and created nearly as many music videos. One of her highest-profile endeavors was writing and recording \u201cHeaven,\u201d a song featured on the soundtrack of the 2018 film Fifty Shades Freed<\/i>. Though Michaels\u2019 approach to songwriting had long been based on personal experience, \u201cHeaven\u201d began a turn toward more mature lyrical content. The single charted in 20 countries, and Michaels promoted the song with a live appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/i>.<\/p>\n

But all was not quite well. \u201cI was feeling a bit stuck in place,\u201d Michaels admits. She says that her record label at the time guided and influenced her in some directions that didn\u2019t always comport with her own ideas about creative expression. Michaels eventually parted ways with that label, announcing her independent status in an August 2024 Instagram post.<\/p>\n

Julia Michaels\u2019 first indie release is \u201cHeaven II.\u201d But the song is neither a remake nor a sequel to her 2018 release. \u201cWhen I wrote it, I didn\u2019t want to call it anything other than \u2018Heaven,\u2019\u201d she explains. \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t<\/i> call it \u2018Heaven,\u2019 now could I?\u201d Michaels says that the new song is the product of her new-found independence. \u201cI got to write a song where I felt liberated and free,\u201d she says. \u201cI wrote it with friends of mine who understand what it means to be an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaels takes ownership of the fact that the kind of music she had been writing contributed to her briefly finding herself stuck. \u201cWhen you [write] songs that are on the vulnerable side, you can end up boxing yourself in a bit,\u201d She observes. \u201cYour label can start to view you as typecast, and anytime you steer away from that, it\u2019s like, \u2018Whoa! What are you doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, listeners need not worry that Julia Michaels will abandon her thoughtful and emotion-filled approach to songwriting. \u201cI am a vulnerable person,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is not news. Everybody knows me as someone who wears her heart on her sleeve.\u201d But going forward, that kind of writing will be but one of the tools at her disposal. \u201cI\u2019m not one-dimensional,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeaven II\u201d showcases Julia Michaels\u2019 multidimensional artistry. The song\u2019s lyrics are bracingly direct in their sauciness; the song oozes liberation of most every kind: sexual, artistic, emotional. The accompanying video doubles down on the forthright edginess of Michaels\u2019 lyrics, depicting the singer surrounded by outr\u00e9 characters: a contortionist, a ball-gagged man in bondage, and lovers of every kind. Michaels\u2019 placement at the center of the carnivalesque milieu speaks volumes: I\u2019m very much at home with all this<\/i>, it seems to say.<\/p>\n

Michaels\u2019 confidence regarding her new approach shines through not only in her music, but in conversation as well. \u201cYou never know what people are going to think, how they\u2019re going to react,\u201d she observes. But she believes that an artist has to make a conscious decision to be true to her or his creative impulses. \u201cAnd I\u2019m so grateful to make music that is rooted in self-expression,\u201d she says. \u201cFor me, that\u2019s one of the points of making music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story appeared previously in SPIN. Pop singer-songwriter leans into her indie status with a provocative new single When she first broke out on the scene, Julia Michaels showcased a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,51],"tags":[5577],"class_list":["post-28635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-pop","tag-julia-michaels","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28637,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28635\/revisions\/28637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}