If the World Was Ending

"If the World Was Ending" is a song written and performed by Canadian singer JP Saxe featuring American singer Julia Michaels. The song was released by Arista Records on October 17, 2019, through digital download and streaming formats as the lead single from his second EP Hold It Together. It is also included on his debut studio album Dangerous Levels of Introspection. The song was nominated for Song of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, being Saxe's first and Michaels' third nomination. Background Speaking to Billboard, Julia Michaels said "I discovered JP Saxe’s music and posted about him around the same time he was listening to Inner Monologue. Since we were fans of each other's music, we got together for a writing session." Saxe added "Writing this song with Julia was one of the most creative experiences of my life. We wrote it the day we met and recorded it that same day." Michaels shared "The song is about that person in your life who you would come back to if the world was ending, when nothing else matters and there is nothing left to hold you back." Regarding the sentiments evoked in the composition, Saxe expressed, "Hopefully we are looking for our sense of compassion. My hope is that it's resonating because it connects people to the part of themselves that wants to put love first, that wants to reach out to that family member they haven't talked to in a while, or that friend". The duo recruited producer Finneas to finalize their piece. "We wanted to find a producer who was going to take up the integrity and emotional contour of our original demo and bring out what was already there. We put together our dream list of producers, and when we reached out to Finneas, he loved the song and told us he wanted to produce it. We were very excited for him to be part of it because he has such unique instincts when it comes to production. And he wanted what we wanted, which was to take the feeling of the song that was there and bring it out and accentuate that emotional world".