Julia Michaels talks about what it was like to become the youngest female songwriter to write songs for a Disney, their latest film 'Wish.' how she would feel if she were to receive an Oscar nomination, how her anxiety is her power, how she approaches for other artists like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter and more!
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00:00 There's gonna be littles all over the world that are gonna feel connected to these songs
00:04 and they're gonna grow up with these songs like I grew up with my Disney songs.
00:08 Hi, I'm Julie Michaels and this is Billboard News.
00:11 ♪
00:20 Hey everybody, I'm Rania Niftos with Billboard News and I'm so happy to be here with Grammy-nominated
00:25 singer-songwriter Julia Michaels.
00:28 Hello.
00:29 ♪
00:46 So Wish.
00:47 Yes.
00:47 What a beautiful story.
00:49 Yeah.
00:50 And you got to write the music for it.
00:52 And you're the youngest female songwriter to write songs for a Disney movie.
00:57 That's what I've been told.
00:58 What was that like, hearing about that history-making accomplishment?
01:02 Overall, just was such an honor.
01:05 I mean, I grew up listening to Disney and watching Disney.
01:09 Alan Menken and the Lopezes and Howard Ashman and just the greats.
01:14 And to be able to, you know, follow in their footsteps is beautiful.
01:20 Yeah.
01:20 Terrifyingly beautiful.
01:21 Obviously, I'm guessing it was pretty intimidating writing for like a Disney film.
01:25 100%.
01:26 But like, how did you, I guess, work through that where you were like, "Okay, I can do this.
01:30 I'm set in.
01:31 They asked me, you know, like, and I'm ready to take this on."
01:35 I have to credit a lot of it just being the support around me.
01:40 I made this film with Ben Rice, who produced the songs.
01:47 ♪
01:51 I also was in a room every week with the same people making this movie.
01:57 The directors, the writers, the producers.
02:00 And we would talk about all the songs and talk about all the characters and
02:04 what we want them to be like and sound like and feel like.
02:07 And, you know, anytime I would go to show them anything, I'd be, "Damn."
02:13 Right.
02:14 Because it's so vulnerable.
02:16 So vulnerable.
02:17 You don't know if they're going to like it or not.
02:18 And I always felt very validated when I would see Jennifer Lee cry or she would laugh or
02:25 something.
02:25 I was like, "Oh my God, I can breathe."
02:27 Yeah.
02:27 We have incredible music by Julia Michaels bringing this really fresh edge and approach.
02:32 I mean, she's worked with Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez.
02:36 So I think it just really came down to trusting the process and trusting in the people that I made
02:45 the movie with.
02:46 The first time I saw "Wish" as a movie with all the songs in it, I was like, "Oh my gosh,
02:52 this is going to live longer than me."
02:57 Yeah.
02:57 This exists now.
03:00 And there's going to be littles all over the world that are going to feel connected to
03:04 these songs.
03:04 And they're going to grow up with these songs like I grew up with my Disney songs.
03:08 Yeah.
03:09 Just wrapping my head around that has been so deeply surreal.
03:12 You're a songwriter, obviously, and you're also your own artist.
03:16 You put out your own music as well.
03:18 And now you foray into film.
03:21 Yeah.
03:22 So what are some of, I guess, the key differences as you navigate, "Okay, this is for me.
03:28 Okay, I'm going to write for a movie.
03:29 Okay, I'm going to write with another artist."
03:31 How do you shift your mindset?
03:33 When I write for myself, it's just very unapologetic.
03:39 It's just coming from me and my psyche and my thoughts and feelings.
03:43 And I can say whatever I want in whatever way I want.
03:48 When I write with other people, it's their thoughts and feelings.
03:57 And of course, you can't help but put a little bit of yourself in everything you do.
04:01 But it's very catered to them.
04:05 It is entirely an act of service for them.
04:09 [Music]
04:18 For Wish specifically, I'd never done anything like this before.
04:23 So I really didn't know what to expect.
04:27 But it was so beautiful and just so expansive in terms of what you can do and how you can do it.
04:37 And this was so different because they don't have thoughts and feelings.
04:43 Right.
04:43 You have to make their thoughts and feelings.
04:45 That's so true.
04:46 I never thought of it that way.
04:47 That's so true.
04:48 Yeah.
04:48 And there was definitely a point when we were doing a song for the film called "Knowing What I Know Now."
04:54 [Music]
04:56 [Music]
05:10 Queen Amaya comes in.
05:11 She has this sort of self-revelation moment.
05:16 And we were like, "Okay, what should we say?
05:19 What would she say?"
05:20 And we're like, "Wait, she's not real."
05:22 But then they become real to you.
05:25 There's Oscar buzz surrounding that.
05:28 How would that feel to be nominated for an Oscar?
05:31 That'd be crazy.
05:32 I haven't fully processed that that could be a scenario.
05:39 Right.
05:40 But I mean, I think obviously being nominated for a Grammy as a songwriter is an incredible thing.
05:51 Right.
05:51 But being nominated as a songwriter for an Oscar is just next.
05:57 Yeah, that's a peak.
05:59 Yeah, you're like, it's probably one of those things.
06:02 I mean, speaking of it, I always think about when big moments happen in my life.
06:06 Like, what would I tell my inner child?
06:08 Like, if I could go back in time and be like...
06:10 Oof, don't do that to me.
06:11 I'll cry.
06:12 [Laughter]
06:13 Okay, because I was about to get there.
06:14 I'm like, what would you say?
06:16 Like, could you imagine going back and being like, "There's Oscar buzz surrounding us right now."
06:21 Like, I would freak out.
06:22 Little me wouldn't even understand that.
06:25 Oh, gosh.
06:26 I come from a very chaotic, broken family.
06:31 Like, I didn't come from money.
06:33 I didn't come from anything.
06:35 I spent my teenage years writing songs in my bedroom as a place of just safety and for self-love.
06:45 You know, just to comfort myself.
06:48 So, I think little me, 13-year-old me, 16-year-old me wouldn't even know where to start.
06:56 Yeah.
06:57 You know what I mean?
06:58 I think that's so special.
06:59 I'm not trying to make you emotional, but I'm like...
07:02 Because I feel like there's such an inspiration for probably people who are in your situation.
07:07 I had a conversation recently doing a round table of sorts with people,
07:12 and I'm not good at those things.
07:15 I just, I'm shaky, I'm nervous, I have a lot of anxiety.
07:20 And someone at the table was like, "Sit in your power.
07:25 You're powerful. Sit in your power."
07:27 And I was like, "That's beautiful for you."
07:30 But also, there are 13-year-old people in their bedroom afraid of themselves right now.
07:38 And someone's got to speak up for them.
07:41 That's me.
07:43 And I know that this sounds weird to say, but weirdly, your anxiety is your power.
07:48 Because you're speaking on a very, very insanely common human experience.
07:55 Totally.
07:55 Where it does give power to people that might feel uncomfortable in a situation,
08:01 speaking up and being who they are.
08:03 100%.
08:03 Whereas two things can be true.
08:05 You're absolutely right.
08:06 Two things can be true.
08:07 And there are so many people out there that are afraid to try,
08:11 because they are not confident people.
08:14 And if I didn't, I would still be there.
08:18 It's a choice to get up and try.
08:23 You were saying that you would write songs in your room as a teenager.
08:27 At what point did you have that realization?
08:29 It's like, "Whoa, this can actually be a career for me."
08:32 That's actually my mom's doing.
08:34 Oh, wow.
08:35 So my sister also used to sing demos around the city.
08:40 And I would just go with to just hang out.
08:44 Right.
08:44 And my mom, bless her heart, was a little bit of a momager.
08:49 And I remember I went to...
08:53 She believed in you.
08:54 She did believe in me.
08:55 When I didn't believe in myself, you know?
08:57 We need those people in our lives.
08:59 And I remember I went to this woman's house.
09:03 Her name's Joleen Bell.
09:04 And my mom instantly was like, "You should sing for her."
09:09 Oh, my God.
09:10 So actually, I sang a song by this artist named Juliet Sims.
09:15 And this songwriter was like, "Do you write songs?"
09:20 And I was like, "I like to pretend I can."
09:22 Yeah.
09:22 And she was like, "Well, we should write together sometime."
09:24 Oh.
09:25 And just completely took a chance on me.
09:27 Wow.
09:28 That really started everything for me.
09:31 I was 15 years old.
09:33 ♪ Both of us will be thinking about ♪
09:36 ♪ How different we are from those scared little kids ♪
09:38 ♪ That hide their ♪
09:39 Working with Sabrina.
09:41 Yeah.
09:41 Oh, my gosh.
09:42 She came into a new side of her.
09:45 And you do that with a lot of artists.
09:46 All the artists that you write with, we're talking like Dua Lipa, Pink, all of them.
09:50 I feel like you open up a new side of these artists that people haven't seen before.
09:57 How do you...
09:58 What happens when you get in the studio,
09:59 where you create such a safe space for people to just be like,
10:04 "I want to write about this,"
10:05 and then just allow for the creativity to flow?
10:07 Well, I definitely can't take credit for anybody's...
10:12 I think you are a big contributor, though.
10:15 Thank you.
10:16 No, I just think that it's important to give people space to be able to be themselves,
10:24 to talk about things freely,
10:26 and know that everything that happens in the room stays in the room.
10:30 Anything they want to talk about is going to stay there,
10:34 unless they want it in a song.
10:36 Right.
10:36 That's up to them.
10:37 That's their prerogative.
10:38 I'm just happy to be there most days
10:42 and get to work with amazing artists that have a point of view and have a vision
10:49 and want me along for the ride.
10:52 It's true, but it's just like...
10:53 Yeah, and I think it kind of goes back to it.
10:55 Again, songwriting, music, so vulnerable.
10:58 It is beautiful that you create a safe space for those artists.
11:01 I think at least once a week, I'll go in the studio,
11:05 and I'll sit on the couch,
11:07 and I'll take my shoes off,
11:09 and I'll sit crisscross applesauce on the couch,
11:12 and I'll look around,
11:13 and I'll look at the producer I'm with or the songwriters I'm with
11:16 or the artists that I get to write with that day,
11:18 and I'm just like, "Wow, this is our job."
11:21 We get to just create all the time.
11:25 Like, we get to take something from nothing
11:28 and make it something beautiful that people get to hold
11:32 and listen to and cry to and dance to.
11:35 There is truly nothing more special to me than that.
11:38 And moving forward, you have an exciting year.
11:41 You're working on "Wish," potentially Oscars.
11:44 You're constantly working on your own music.
11:47 What are you looking forward to, I guess,
11:50 like exploring and introducing as we go into the new year?
11:55 That's a good question.
11:56 I try not to put myself too far in the future
12:00 because I get overwhelmed.
12:01 I feel that too.
12:03 But I've been writing with a lot of people again,
12:08 which has been really good for the soul.
12:10 Yeah.
12:11 And working on stuff for myself,
12:13 and I don't know, we'll see.
12:15 I love that.
12:16 I'm just happy to be here and alive and healthy.
12:19 I'm happy you're here too.
12:22 Thank you so much for joining us.
12:24 Thank you.
12:24 Of course.
12:25 Thanks for having me.
12:26 Everyone go watch "Wish."