362. Charley on Julia Michaels 'Nervous System' (2017)

Today we’re back in lockdown on both ends of the chat as emerging Aussie queen of pop Charley joins me over Zoom to unpack the genius of one of the last decade’s most significant pop songwriters, Julia Michaels, and her debut ‘mini-album’, 2017's Nervous System. We talk about how this record helped Charley figure out who she wanted to be as an artist, identifying with the anxiety issues and relationship dramas Michaels writes about and the transparency of the lyrics, how Michaels’ song ‘Issues’ propelled her from songwriter to pop star, the signature lyrical and rhythmic hooks of a Julia Michaels song, use of contained metaphors and when double entendres become single entendres in song lyrics. Plus we talk about Charley’s infectious debut single ‘Hard for Me’, why she wrote it in Nashville, how COVID changed her release plan and teases her forthcoming song ‘Arizona’.