JP Saxe Didn’t Mean for His Grammy Hit ‘If the World Was Ending’ to Be So Literal

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

JP Saxe wrote the song “If the World was Ending” with acclaimed songwriter Julia Michaels in 2019 about a fictional cataclysm. The record was released in the before times in a way that seemed to presage lockdown. In the early months of the actual pandemic the song resonated so widely that it catapulted up the charts. It’s now been nominated for a Grammy for song of the year — an award JP Saxe could share with his grandfather János Starker who was awarded a Grammy in 1997 for a recording of Bach’s cello suites. We wanted to speak with JP not just because of the song's success, but also because he has a way of thinking about the practical implications and even morality of songwriting in this track as well as his song "Line By Line" with Maren Morris. Songs Discussed JP Saxe with Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending JP Saxe - 25 In Barcelona, A Little Bit Yours, The Few Things, Same Room Lennon Stella - Golf on TV (with JP Saxe) JP Saxe, Maren Morris - Line By Line Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Switched On Pop, I'm Songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:15.0	Today I have a story from a songwriter.
0:16.7	Hey my name is JP Sachs.
0:18.4	JP wrote the song if the world was ending with Julia Michaels.
0:22.5	It's a record that was released in the before times in a way that kind of seemed to pre-sage
0:26.6	lockdown and it resonated so widely that it catapulted up the charts and has now been
0:31.7	nominated for a song of the year Grammy.
0:33.6	But if the world was ending you'd come over right, you'd come over and you'd stay the
0:39.2	night.
0:41.0	Would you love me for the hell of it?
0:44.1	All our fears would be irrelevant if the world was ending.
0:48.0	I want to just speak with JP not just because of the song's success but because he has
0:53.6	this way of thinking about the practical implications and even morality of songwriting.
0:59.0	He shared his insights with me by telling the story of if the world was ending.
1:03.8	The song is about imagining a world where you're otherwise good reasons for not talking
1:10.0	to the people you don't talk to are no longer relevant.
1:12.8	If the world was ending you'd come over right, right?
1:18.4	We wrote it in July of 2019, we were writing about a hypothetical apocalypse.
1:24.5	In almost kind of craving there being some sort of world event that would get in the way
1:32.2	of your otherwise logical emotional reasons for keeping people out of your life.
1:37.4	I was distracted and in traffic I didn't feel it when the earthquake happened but I was
1:44.2	in traffic when the July 4 earthquake in Los Angeles happened so I didn't feel it.
	...

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