“If the World Was Ending” with ex-girlfriend Julia Michaels in July 2019.“I wrote a song inspired by an earthquake, and then six months later the world is ending,” said Saxe, 30, of the tune that proved to be an eerie foreshadowing of the global pandemic in 2020. “Like, you don’t really see that s—t coming.”But that didn’t stop social media conspiracists from having other ideas. “It was a very bizarre time in my creative life to be accused on Twitter of having some sort of insider information,” said Saxe, whose initials stand for Jonathan Percy.Still, he’s “extremely grateful” for the song that introduced him to the world.
And having just dropped his second LP, “A Grey Area,” last Friday, the buzzy artist is making even more fans as he opens for his idol John Mayer on the fall leg of his solo acoustic tour that kicks off Oct.
3 at Madison Square Garden (with a second MSG show on Oct. 4).It was a songwriting session with one early fan, “Issues” singer Michaels — who had shared Saxe’s song “25 in Barcelona” on Instagram — that jump-started his career as well as his love life.
The two tunesmiths wrote both “If the World Was Ending” and Lewis Capaldi’s “Wish You the Best” on the very first day that they met.Produced by Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas, “If the World Was Ending” was originally released as a duet between the songwriters-turned-sweethearts in October 2019.
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