Julia Michaels talks song writing for the stars and supporting Niall Horan on tour

Chances are you’ve already heard of Julia Michaels before she became well…a singer. The American beauty is a renowned songwriter to some of the worlds biggest stars and has made her first visit to Manchester, by joining Niall Horan on the European Leg of his world tour. VIVA caught up with Julia ahead of her first performance at the O2 Apollo.

 

Entering the stars dressing room, the singer is cool, calm and collected, sporting a short bob and a flowery jumpsuit with socks and sliders – we wish we were cool enough to pull off her style!

 

Chatting with the singer ahead of her first show, supporting Niall Horan at the O2 Apollo, she expresses how she’s never been to Manchester before; “it’s my first time here, we’ve just kind of been exploring the city a little bit. We’ve been trying to find fun little places to go, it’s super fun.”

 

Opening with Pink from her mini-album ‘Nervous System’, Michaels appeared visibly nervous but was soon in her element as she bounced around the stage, taking in the energy from the sold out Manchester crowd.

 

“I tend to get a little nervous, so I try not to think about it too much and then hopefully the crowd knows the songs enough to sing with me and then I don’t get as nervous when I’m on stage.”

 

The crowd at the O2 Apollo gave her exactly that, as a significant moment throughout her short set was the moment that Michaels became emotional and visibly taken aback, as the sold-out crowd began to belt the lyrics to her top 10 hit singles, Issues and Miss You (ft. Clean Bandit) back to her.

Michaels has loved playing music from a young age, when she was 17 years-old she realised her potential and knew it was what she wanted to do for a living. But what she didn’t know was how successful she’d become or that she’d end up supporting one of the worlds biggest boy band members on his world tour – But she wasn’t always been such a big fan.

 

“I wasn’t like a massive fan of One Direction, I think I was in that angsty teenager phase when they started to get really big. I was into Fiona Apple and people like that, so I was in that phase of being moody and dark. So yeah I can’t say that I was a huge fan of them but I do appreciate their music.”

 

It’s hard to believe that this American beauty is only 24 and already has an array of hit songs that she’s co-written and a Grammy Award nomination under her belt. She displays her impressive song-writing résumé, to the Manchester crowd during her set, through an impressive, acoustic medley of hits that she has written for other artists including Selena Gomez’s Bad Liar, Hailee Steinfeld’s Love myself and Justin Bieber’s Sorry.

Julia Michaels performs live at O2 Apollo in Manchester – https://t.co/vBfxoPi9Bj pic.twitter.com/2grggieHP0

— StarzDay (@starzday) March 16, 2018

Prior to the concert, Michaels reminisced about the moment that she stepped away from co-writing songs for other artists and finally becoming a performer. “I think it actually was when I wrote Issues, it was kind of one of the more personal songs that I’d ever written and I think the idea of giving it to somebody made it hurt my spirit a little bit, so I think that was sort of the turning point for me.

 

“When I signed to Republic [records] I was just kind of thinking oh maybe someone will like my music, I had no idea that it would lead me to being nominated for a Grammy or touring with Niall Horan.”

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This may only just be the beginning to Michaels own singing career but she is already well underway to taking the charts by storm – and not just with the songs that she’s co-written.

 

So what can we expect next from the American beauty?

 

“Well, after I’ve finished this tour I’m going to start my tour with Maroon 5 over in the US and then I’m going to be releasing some new music pretty soon.”

 

We can’t wait!

 

If you didn’t manage to catch Julia Michaels supporting Niall Horan in Manchester, there is still chance to get tickets to one of her last few performances around the country. You can buy tickets through visiting her website here.