Issues

This confessional down-tempo love song was inspired by Michaels real-life relationship with her boyfriend. Michaels described it as a raw ode to her own anxieties, it was written at a songwriting camp run by Stargate and Benny Blanco with Michaels’ regular songwriting partner Justin Tranter. Michaels decided she wanted to record this song herself claiming that it was too much her story for it to be given to someone else, she told Billboard Magazine: “I thought, ‘This song is too much my story to give to someone else’? Maybe this is a sign. Maybe I want something different.” She added: “My boyfriend and I like to fight a lot. I have a lot of problems. He has a lot of problems. Somehow, we always work them out and find a way back to each other. ‘Issues’ is knowing and accepting you have problems and your partner has problems and when s— gets hard, you don’t just walk away, you make it work – no matter how fucked up you are. You’re there for each other.”
In an interview with Genius, Julia talked about some of the issues she deals with, she said: “I am a very jealous person. My lows are really fucking low, and my highs are high. I’m very defensive. If you judge me, I’m going to be like, “Oh, well, you too!” That’s just who I am. I mean I can go on and on. I could fill a dictionary full of problems that I have within my mind. I’m a very non-confrontational person. I tend to be pretty passive aggressive which, makes for great lyrical content, I guess, because I don’t say anything to anybody and then there’s a song.” In another interview with 92.3 AMP, Michaels explained that by the time the song was released, she had already broken up with her boyfriend who is basically the real inspiration for this track, she said: “It is seriously what I was going through over the last couple of months and going through my last relationship and why it couldn’t work. All the things that I loved and all the things that were ultimately our demise.”

Release Date: January 13, 2017

Songwriter/s: Julia Michaels – Benjamin Levin – Tor Hermansen – Mikkel Eriksen – Justin Tranter

Label: Republic

Chart Rankings: In the US, the song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 4 on the Mainstream top 40. The Recording Industry Association of America certified Double Platinum for sales over 889,000 copies. In the UK, it peaked at number 10 on the Official Charts Company and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales over 400,000 copies. ‘Issues’ reached the top 10 charts in several countries around the world including Australia, Belgium, Czech republic, Denmark, France, Norway, Romania, Scotland and Spain. It was certified Triple Platinum in Sweden, Double Platinum in Australia, and Platinum in Belgium, Italy and New Zealand. In Denmark, France and Norway it was certified Gold.

Artist’s age on Release Date: Julia Carin Cavazos was 23 years old when she released this song.

Cover Versions: Sara Farell – Sam Tsui – AJ Mitchell – TonyB – Ryman – Daniel Jang & Jason Chen – Jimmy Levy – Niall Horan – Echosmith – Sarah Close – Kina Grannis – Hannah Waddell – Paris Inc – Walk off the Earth featuring Myles and Briar – Sara’h (French) – Alexander Stewart – Ashley Tisdale – Elvis Duran – Summer Ferguson – Alicia Moffet – Chris Collins & Tyler Ward – Rajiv Dhall X Lisa Cimorelli – Mia Synger (The X Factor) – other amateur artists covered this song on Youtube.