I didn’t expect much from Julia Michaels’ most recent EP, a collaboration with not one but two other artists. But I liked every underrated song on it.

Michaels wanted to release her whole album on Jan. 25, but she was so excited about this album, she released a day early on Jan. 24.

Going with the first song in her album, “Anxiety (ft. Selena Gomez),” I am more than happy to say, this was my favorite song out of the whole EP. Throughout the song, her tone of voice completes the song as if she’s depressed. It surprised me on how well she pulled off her voice into a different direction. She had teased this song on her Instagram on Jan. 22, with a small but creative lyric video. I can kind of relate to a lot of things she says in her song, which is most likely why I like this song the most.

“…I’m holding hands with my depression/I make all these plans with friends and hope they call and cancel/Feel like I’m always apologizing for feeling, like I’m out of my mind when I’m doing just fine/But all my friends, they don’t know what it’s like … they don’t understand why I can’t sleep through the night…,” Michaels said in her lyrics.

She explains exactly what anxiety feels like, which makes people relate to the song in so many ways. With that statement, I think that’s why this song gets the most popularity out of the rest of the EP.

Her second song in the album, “Into You,” she basically tells her audience that she wishes she’d move away from her past exes so she doesn’t run into them or even see them again. “I thought about movin’ to a different state, a different country, yeah, maybe that’d be better, so I’m not around you,” she explains in the lyrics. She hits some pretty impressive notes in this song, which catched me on to liking it.  

Her third song in the EP, “Happy,” says the lyrics: “I just wanna be … happy” repeatedly throughout the song. Her song can be relatable to everyone, since we all want to always be happy. But that’s not always the case. The song almost tied in with “Anxiety” as she hits the lyrics: “And sometimes I think I kill relationships for art/I start up all this … to watch ’em fall apart.” Basically she wants attention and that’s all she wanted through this song.

But I like most people, can relate to her message that attention and happiness is great.

Her fourth song was my third favorite song, “Deep.” When she hit the notes and rhythm at “I’m deep divin’ into your emotions” in the song, I instantly liked the song. It had a really catchy sound to it since her voice doesn’t stay on one line, it goes all over the song’s measure. In her song she’s basically explaining that she’s finally letting emotion settle in again and she’s ready for it all to come in.

Her fifth song in the album seems happier to her than any other song in the album. “Apple” seems like a sketchy title for a song that explains what she wants to do in a relationship. “The sun in our eyes, this love is blind/Let’s not decide whether we’re too far gone” she just wants to not worry about what’s happening in their relationship and go with the flow throughout this song. I wasn’t too attached to this song, but it was good at some measures in the song.

Her last song, “What a Time (ft. Niall Horan)” is so catchy. She explains in the song that she is hanging out with her significant other just having a good time finding out they belong, as they don’t focus on the worse parts of the relationship. I felt as though Niall was the perfect fit for this song.

Throughout her EP, she does use explicit language, which turns me away, but overall it’s a pretty decent album that might be one of her best.