Singer/Songwriter Julia Michaels released her new album Inner Monologue Part 1 on 24th January, just over 18 months after her previous EP Nervous System which included her hit single ‘Issues’.
On the new mini-album Julia opens up about her battle with mental health, saying “Inner Monologue Part 1 is literally my innermost thoughts and feelings. This is my take on love, heartbreak, anxiety, and depression, A lot of the songs are sung as if I’m talking to myself or somebody else. I always try to be very conversational, because I feel like I’m trying to get everything out of my head, and this is the only way I know to do that.”
Julia Michaels is accompanied by friends Selena Gomez and Niall Horan, who are the only two features on the album. ‘Anxiety’ with Selena Gomez is a delicate, toe-tapping introduction to Inner Monologue Part 1. Despite the track’s heavy lyrical content surrounding anxiety and isolation, Michaels says she “wanted it to be a little satirical, because anxiety is typically such a dark topic. It’s something that when you talk about it, you don’t talk about it with a smile. I guess it’s my way of trying to take my power back from anxiety.”
She speeds things up on ‘Into You’, the track producing a pumping stadium beat showing off her raspy vocal range, and then slows back down on ‘Apple’, a sweet acoustic track about an old summertime love story.
Our definite stand out is Happy, the third track on Inner Monologue Part 1. In between a We-Will-Rock-You-esque chorus, Michaels sings “Sometimes I think I kill relationships for art/ I start up all this shit to watch them fall apart/ I pay my bills with it/ I watch them fall apart and pay the price for it.” She opens up how her reality often suffers due to her need for creative perfection.
Lyrically and musically Julia Michaels sticks to what she knows on Inner Monologue Part 1, but when it turns out like this, why mess with a winning formula?
