During her verse, the former Disney darling also talks about how she wishes she can be 'one of the people in the room' who can say something and 'everyone puts their hand up.'
- Jan 25, 2019
AceShowbiz - Ever since Julia Michaels teased the release of her upcoming EP "Inner Monologue Pt. 1", fans have been really eager to listen to one particular track off the record, a collaboration with Selena Gomez. The wait is finally over as the "Issues" singer unveiled the much-anticipated effort on Thursday, January 24, one day earlier than its schedule.
Her collaboration with the former Disney darling, "Anxiety", finds the collaborators getting real about depression and social anxiety over acoustic guitar melodies. Julia opens the song by singing about how she thinks she has overcome her depression when she's invited to go to movies. However, reality is not that kind to her. "And right when I think I've overcome it/ Anxiety starts kicking it to teach that s**t a lesson," she sings.
Selena joins in after about a minute into the song, delivering verses about how she wishes she can be "one of these people in the room." She continues rhyming, "That says something and everyone puts their hand up/ Like, if you're sad put your hand up/ If you hate someone, put your hand up/ If you're scared, put your hand up."
They later join forces on the chorus, hoping to find a way to fix their mental health issue and noting that their friends don't know what it feels like to have depression and anxiety. "They don't understand why I can't sleep through the night/ And I thought that I could take something to fix it," they harmonize. "Damn, I wish it, I wish it was that simple, ah/ All my friends they don't know what it's like, what it's like."
Towards the end of the song, the "Back to You" singer can be heard saying, "I love this song."
Discussing the song in an interview with Zane Lowe of Beats 1, Julia explained why she enlisted Selena for the song. "I was like, 'I think it'd be really awesome to have a song with two women on it that struggle with the same thing, that are talking about something other than two women fighting for a guy's attention," she dished. "Or something like that. It's almost like a female empowerment song without it being a female empowerment song."
