That changed after she wrote “Issues,” a simmering, string-driven track about owning your insecurities that’s also her debut single, arriving in January. “It was the first time I had written a song that felt so much like myself that I couldn’t picture anyone else singing it,” she says.
The journey to her first major-label EP, due in early 2017, hasn’t been without challenges. Michaels, who has put out a handful of EPs on indies, had to fight to keep “Issues” for herself. “There were definitely a lot of people that wanted that song,” she says. “A lot of people were surprised I wanted to do this all of a sudden because I had been so [reluctant to become an artist] for such a long time.” And though she has an impressive track record as a songwriter, Michaels knows she has to prove herself all over again as an artist. It’s why she says we shouldn’t expect any of her famous collaborators to make guest appearances anytime soon. “I don’t want to ask for favors,“ she says. “I want to work for it. I want to earn it.”