Julia Gartha Releases New EP “California Is Killing Me”

Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and producer Julia Gartha releases her new six-track EP, California’s Killing Me. Blending pop, indie, folk, and singer-songwriter influences, California’s Killing Me pairs her honest, conversational songwriting with the emotionally direct, modern production of Caleb Dee, who produced and co-wrote the EP. 

Have you ever felt like you were caught between the life you have, the life you miss, and the life you’re still trying to build? Julia wrote her new EP during a stagnant chapter of her life in Los Angeles, capturing the complicated reality of building a life somewhere you’ve loved, resented, and struggled to imagine leaving. I know that feeling all too well, as I feel like my own life is caught in the middle of these feelings. 

Julia explores homesickness, nostalgia for the familiar, and the urge to start over. How do you chase a dream while questioning whether you’re in the right place? You see this exploration in “Itching for Change,” where she looks inward, reckoning with her desire to move forward in both her personal life and career, when the path ahead is uncertain. 

Born in Canada, Julia began piano lessons at 10 years old and began songwriting at 12, developing an ear for music by learning to play the piano from songs on the radio. She graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2019. She co-wrote and performed on Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer A.R. Rahman’s “Hands Around the World,” a global climate change awareness anthem released for Earth Day 2020. 

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When she’s not writing her own music, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and currently touring with Harry Styles on his ‘Together Together” tour. She sang with Chappell Roan on Saturday Night Live, Olivia Rodrigo on her Tiny Desk, and Sabrina Carpenter during her historic Coachella performance. 

Julia turned a deeply personal chapter in her life into an EP. As someone living in a similar middle, these songs brought a level of validation I didn’t know I needed. 

Listen to California’s Killing Me.