The Julia Show

Audacy Check In vet Charlie Puth joined us once again to chat all about his new song with Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter, "That's Not How This Works,” his upcoming tour, and more.

After first briefly praising Sabrina for her incredible acting skills in his track’s short film, that even had him second guessing if she was actually really mad at him, Charlie got into how the song originally came about, and how it ended up what it currently is.

“It used to be just me,” revealing he wrote it “about two months into the pandemic on zoom… with Dan+Shay.” Then after the course of three years time and going through “lots of changes in my life, lots of changes in everybody's lives,” noting some of those changes, “I switched record labels and made a new album.” Charlie went on to say “I always had this song in my back pocket and wondered what it would be like if I kinda just revisited it.”

“So I opened it up on the computer and just updated the sounds a bit and thought ‘why not feature the guys that I wrote the song with… I bet you it will sound really natural,’ and it did,” Charlie added before getting into how detail oriented Dan is when it comes to vocal producing.

As for how the Sabrina Carpenter version got involved with the track, Charlie explained. “I’ve always wanted to have a short film go alongside a music video, and I’d say right when I thought that, two days later (after bringing up her name a week prior) one of my managers who has a really good relationship with her manager asked if she’d be interested in something like this.” Turns out “she did, and we filmed it, and it went so well I had the idea of while we were filming it to make her version of the song as well because she’s a really great artist as well as well as an actor.”

Julia then brilliantly brought up how the track reminded her of a modern day merged version of “I Don’t Want You Back” by Eamon and Frankee’s “F U Right Back,” a fact that straight up blew Charlie’s mind. Adding his two cents, Charlie noted that while lyrically he thinks his song “is a little bit nicer,” he couldn’t deny both 2004 classic one hit wonder tracks still very much slap.

Mentioning that his latest album, CHARLIE, dropped relatively recently, Julia inquired where that leaves his newest single — as part of a new project or just a stand alone song.

“So I like to sonically bridge things. The last album was like almost borderline like hyper-Pop, very fast, very synth based. I wanna kinda get back into," he started his thought, pausing to note, “I like it when things compliment each other."

“For the next project I want it to be very band oriented, like no synths… and just real instrumentation. But I feel like I can't just come out of nowhere and just drop the project. I need to come out with a song that's kind of a hybrid of both. So on ‘That’s Not How This Works’ maybe that’s the bridge song leading us into the ...

After the viral success of her song, “Victoria’s Secret,” singer-songwriter, JAX, is at it again with another hard-hitting, feminist single we can’t get enough of.

The 26-year-old uses her masterful songwriting and a Pop Punk sound to rewrite the Cinderella story we all know and shift it into an empowering anthem for women all over.

“I wanted to tell this one [song] as like, a story,” JAX tells Audacy's Julia of her approach to the song. “It starts with OG Cinderella… just waiting around for the Prince missing a slipper and it gets to the point of like, ‘Why am I waiting?’”

JAX continued, “She gets to a point where she just snaps. The chorus kicks in and she realizes she doesn’t need a guy to call her ‘baby’ but she really needs a guy to equal pay her.”

JAX credits her Nana, whom she calls the “OG feminist,” for the original inspiration for the song remembering when she scribbled all over JAX’s childhood Cinderella book and re-wrote the story.

“I was inspired to write this by my very ahead-of-her-time Nana, who had re-written my original Cinderella book when I was like, mad that I didn’t have a date when I was younger to the dance.”

She continued, “She took the book and she took a red marker and she started scribbling all over it and literally re-writes the thing — crosses out all the parts she disagrees with… [renamed it] Cinde-pendent woman."

Hear more about the single as well as JAX’s excitement to take the stage with a few other “cinde-pendent women” at Audacy’s third annual Leading Ladies event, taking place on International Women’s Day at Hard Rock Hotel New York.

JAX will take the stage March 8 alongside Maren Morris, Bebe Rexha and Ingrid Andress for a one-of-a-kind event centered around uplifting women’s voices.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Julia

JAX is ready to get Audacy listeners nationwide excited for her new song, “Cinderella Snapped.”

Just days ahead of the song’s March 3 release, the Pop singer joined Audacy’s Julia live to talk about the new single and the inspiration behind it as she went live on the Audacy app.

“Finally! I’m so sick and tired of hearing ‘Victoria’s Secret’ — as fun as that was,” she laughed before filling fans in on the chaos that’s about to be unleashed with “Cinderella Snapped.”

“This is one I’m really excited to show the world,” she said before giving us a glimpse into the storyline. “Cinderella gets cheated on by the prince… She wakes up one day and realizes that she has other priorities than just only finding a prince.”

She continued, “all the princesses burn the castle down and follow suit and take over. They get degrees and they make out with each other.”

JAX credits the plot to her own thoughts of what might happen if all the princesses were unhinged and had “cool priorities.”

Hear more about what’s to come by checking out JAX’s full conversation with Julia above.

In addition to celebrating the highly-anticipated new song by going live, JAX will also be performing at Audacy’s third annual Leading Ladies event, taking place on International Women’s Day at Hard Rock Hotel New York. JAX will take the stage March 8 alongside Maren Morris, Bebe Rexha and Ingrid Andress for a one-of-a-kind event centered around uplifting women’s voices.

Julia had the chance to sit down and chat with Niall Horan after debuting his first single in three years. 

During this conversation, Nial and Julia delved into what it's been like to be back in the limelight with new music and his excitement about being one of the new judges on The Voice. 

Julia also discussed how she and Lewis Capaldi have never recovered after smelling Niall Horan, as he has continued to reign as the best-smelling celebrity. 

Get a whiff of the entire interview by listening to the whole conversation!

If you haven't heard of Lizzo by now, I'm not entirely sure where you've been. The massively successful 4-time grammy winner sat down with Julia to discuss all things Grammy-related including her recent Grammy win, a deeper dive into the behind-the-scenes, and where she plans on putting her latest Grammy in her home. 

They also got to discuss how her latest song "Special" featuring her dear friend SZA came to be and unpacked some of their predictions for the upcoming halftime show with Rihanna. 

Noah Kahan is an American singer-songwriter of folk-infused pop, and his album "Stick Season" has become wildly successful as his tour continues to sell out in each location. 

Originally from Strafford, Vermont, Kahan began writing songs at age 8 and uploaded them to SoundCloud where his music began to gain exposure. He has opened up about his struggles with anxiety and depression and how writing about these topics has proven therapeutic for him.

Julia had the chance to sit down and chat with him (and his dog, Penny) about the inspiration behind his music, his songwriting process, his love for all things gas station-related, etc.

Last time we talked to Lizzo she told us all about landing Tyson Beckford for her “2 Be Loved” music video, listening to Latto, and her nickname from her special someone, who we now know to be Myke Wright, after their hard launch at the GRAMMYs.

So now, a few months later, Lizzo checks back in to talk to us all about that “Special” Remix featuring SZA, as well as how she was completely surprised but obviously elated to win the GRAMMY for Record of the Year for “About Damn Time,” plus a whole lot more.

“I was not expecting that at all, ”Lizzo admitted to Audacy's Julia, about taking home one of the top four coveted awards of the evening. “I was just having fun and I guess everyone could tell I was having fun.”

Being humbly surprised by the success of each one of her hits is kind of Lizzo’s vibe, and that’s the way she likes it. “The other way would suck,” Lizzo said, “to be like ‘why is it not number one, why doesn’t it win a GRAMMY?’” she said with a scrunched-up face. Adding, “that doesn’t sound fun, I don’t want to live my life like that. So I don’t really have expectations with anything anymore and it’s made me way more relaxed.”

Like pretty much everyone else who watched the GRAMMYs, Lizzo’s favorite part of the night was the Hip-Hop Tribute. “My heart rate was the highest…when I saw Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes… my cardio was going, I was running… that was an amazing part of the night.”

While the song “Special” was the first taste Lizzo gave of her album of the same name, it was important for her to perform it on such a special night because “it deserved an opportunity to be consumed as a single, and serviced to the world because I do love the message in that song."

Lizzo continued, "I think the second verse is the most import — sorry for cussing — s*** I’ve said in a while, and the realist s*** I’ve said about how I feel in a while. That song continues to feel like gospel to me and to so many people so I wanted to give ‘Special’ the opportunity to be heard by as many people as possible.” And Amen to that.

And as if the song wasn’t already special enough, Lizzo has officially gifted us with the “Special” Remix featuring SZA.

The idea for the collab came about while both working on the respective records in the studio at the same time. After hearing the song, SZA fell in love with the track and wanted to be a part of it, but because of timing things didn’t work out. However, after both of their albums were out, “and the timing was just right,” Lizzo shared, “she did her verse and turned it in." Exclaiming, "so it’s never too late y’all, it’s never too late to get your feature, it happened perfectly.”

For all that and more including, some tea abou ...

Last time we talked to Sabrina Carpenter, we were waiting on her music video for “Nonsense” to drop. So, now that it has, and we’ve had plenty of time to obsess over it, we’re checking in with the singer again to talk all about the song, and a whole lot more.

Currently in her creative hibernation phase, Sabrina is beyond happy to hear about the success of “Nonsense” when she comes up for air. The track, which sounds different than the rest of her album -- and as Julia also pointed out, doesn’t sound like anything currently on the radio -- was actually almost left off her album emails i cant send, for that exact reason.

“That was like the one song that was this close to not making the album,” Sabrina said, pinching her index and thumb fingers together, “because of that reason. I just felt like maybe it didn’t fit the tone of some of the more serious songs on the record. And then I just really had to convince myself that people can be both, people can be multi-fasciated and they can be going through the worst times of their life, and they can also be really excited about someone they have a crush on.”

When talking about how the song came about, Sabrina explained how her friends referred to the song as “the octave song,” and calling it funny, which Sabrina reveled in. “I love it when my friends find my sense of humor in my music because I feel like they feel more connected to me,” and the same goes with her fans.

“I didn’t really set up to do that with that song,” Sabrina added, “but it just kinda happened naturally. And again, the song doesn’t really take itself too seriously.”

When discussing her very personal album, emails i cant send, Sabrina admitted it felt “freeing” to be that raw, she says, “but more than anything it really felt like a relief, because I think for a long time when I was younger I wrote for what I thought people wanted to hear as opposed to what I needed to say.”

For all that and more, including what she learned while working with incredible songwriters like Julia Michaels and JP Saxe, what it’s like having Taylor Swift in her life, and more, check out the entire interview above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Julia

Calling in to chat with Audacy’s Julia, Zara Larsson discussed her new “feel good” single “Can’t Tame Her,” and so much more.

“I feel very energetic and like confident when I listen to the song, and that’s really what I wanted to capture.”

And that’s why despite the “always a little tricky” decision of choosing which song will be the first taste off a new album, Zara admitted, “hopefully they will all have their time to shine,” in regards to her forthcoming LP's other tracks, “but it was just nice to start off the year with that energy.”

Described by Julia as “sexy, empowering kinda makes you wanna punch someone in the face," and Zara couldn’t agree more. “The song itself kinda hits you in the face, its instant, its fun, and when I listen to it, I’m like that’s me, whoever she’s talking about, whoever Zara is talking about that’s me,” noting the track is from the third person perspective.

While in the past Zara hasn’t been the most self-promoting, and generally more shy, lately thanks to “Can’t Tame Her” being a place on repeat type of song, things have changed. “Because I just thought to myself, if I’m not gonna be my biggest fan, who’s gonna be?”

“I am really proud of the things I put out, the music I make, and what I do,” Zara expressed. “So I will shamelessly promote myself this whole upcoming year and like for the rest of my life because I love what I do.”

In particular, Zara admittedly loves to listen to her unreleased music, “because that’s exciting and its also something that still you could change…Cause once you release the song into the universe, it’s out. I have no control over it anymore and it’s like my gift to whoever wants to listen and enjoy it. So it’s exciting to listen to new stuff that isn’t out yet.”

Getting into the ways she avoids being tamed, after being asked, Zara’s main point was to always be true to yourself and never be scared of being a little “cringy” in somebody else’s eyes, whether its fans, critics, strangers, or even friends.

As for whats to come with her new album, Zara shared, “there’s some very passionate emotional heartfelt songs, there's some club bangers, there’s a little bit more R&B, I think it’s a good mix.”

For all that and more, including what Zara’s learned working on this new album versus her previous projects, what her “big goals” are for 2023, and some Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime song predictions, listen to interview above.

To celebrate of the continued success of her David Guetta collab "I'm Good (Blue),” Bebe Rexha checked in with Audacy’s Julia to talk all about the smash hit and more.

The track, which interpolates Eiffel 65's 1999 novelty hit "Blue (Da Ba Dee),” found its way to TikTok and well the rest is history currently climbing and topping the charts.

“I’m really grateful, and just shook and shocked,” Bebe said about the success of her single that with each passing day adds another achievement to its growing list, as Julia pointed out. “Now No.1 at Pop & Dance, it’s platinum in the US, over 1 billion worldwide, GRAMMY nom, BRIT nom.”

And to mark such momentous accomplishments, Bebe’s doing “little things that I love that make me happy,” like going out to a solo dinner, “to enjoy a nice little meal that you love and have a little drinky.” A theme she's sticking to on her latest project, but we'll get to that in a little bit.

While "I'm Good (Blue),” was released a mere five months ago, which Bebe couldn’t believe, “it feels longer,” the track was actually created 5 years ago.

Explaining how the song came about Bebe said, “I was in London and saw somehow that Guetta was in London as well.” After reaching out, Guetta informed her he was working in the studio, “so I was like cool, can I drop by?”

“So I dropped by the studio,” she continued, “he played me this remix of this beat that he made off of ‘Blue,’ and I was like ‘this is cool, let’s just write to it,” thinking nothing of it. “We weren’t like being serious about it, we were just having fun… and wrote it, and here we are.”

After cutting the track Guetta played the track at a festival, and someone who filmed it then posted it on YouTube. Which led someone else pulling it from YouTube posting it on TikTok, “and that’s where it went viral,” Bebe expressed.

Explaining the YouTube video was gradually going viral, gaining views on YouTube with each passing year, “but then it would get pulled down because it was copyright infringement,” adding, “it was kinda happening for a while.”

Putting a positive spin on the song, as the original “is about being sad,” was a natural choice. “Because when you listen to it with the beat and chords, it actually makes you feel like you wanna go party.” And working with Guetta on the feel good anthem didn’t hurt either. “Guetta’s like the king of that,” Bebe noted.

With all the crazy success that’s gone down with "I'm Good (Blue),” Julia was curious if anything has “topped this moment… as one of the craziest moments in your career?”

After mentioning “Meant to Be,” with int ...