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Selena Gomez is back with new music.
The 26-year-old singer is featured on Julia Michaels‘ track called “Anxiety,” off of Michaels’ new EP, Inner Monologue Part I. Michaels premiered the song on Thursday during her chat with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on Apple Music.
“Ι’ve always wanted tο be οne of thοse people in the rοοm that says sοmething and everyοne puts their hand up,” Gomez sings on the track. “Like, if yοu’re sad put yοur hand up/Ιf yοu hate someone, put yοur hand up/Αnd if you’re scared, put yοur hand up.”
“Feel like Ι’m always apologizing fοr feeling/Like Ι’m οut of my mind/When Ι’m doing just fine,” Gomez goes on to sing. “And my exes all say that Ι’m hard tο deal with/Αnd I admit it, it’s true.”
“Actually it happened with a couple of friends of mine. I was writing with Scott Harrison, Patrick and I basically was just like I kind of want to talk about these sort of things that I deal with on a daily basis,” Michaels told Lowe on Thursday. “Not just anxiety but the fear of missing out and sort of wanting to do things but never actually like having the ability to go through with anything that you want to do.”
“So we wrote ‘Anxiety’ and I sent it to Selena,” she continued. “And 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.’ Or something like that. It’s almost like a female empowerment song without it being a female empowerment song. It’s us saying, ‘Hey we have anxiety and we’re OK with it.'”
“And she was like, ‘I am so into this, I love this so much,'” Michaels shared. “And that’s how that whole thing happened, really. And I’m just so grateful that she’s on it and I’m so grateful that the song’s gonna be out. It’s just a way into the mind of someone that has anxiety and has these struggles for someone that doesn’t understand it.”
After the song’s premiere, Gomez, who recently returned to social media following a challenging 2018, took to Instagram to write a sweet message to Michaels.
“My sweet soul sister. Julia you have been a huge part of my life. You have taught me how to have courage when I have self doubt,” Gomez’s message reads. “This song is extremely close to my heart as I’ve experienced anxiety and know a lot of my friends do too. You’re never alone if you feel this way. The message is much needed and I really hope you guys like it!
You can listen to “Anxiety” above!