"Uh Huh" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

from her third

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

Nervous System In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

'' (2017), and served as the second track of the EP. The song was written by Michaels,

Justin Tranter Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Sara Bareilles, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, DNCE, ...

and producers Mattias Larsson and Robin Fredriksson, who composed the duo

Mattman & Robin Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson (known collectively as Mattman & Robin) are Swedish songwriters and record producers. They are published by Wolf Cousins, a publishing company administered by Warner Chappell Music. In 2016, they ...

. The song was released by

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

as the second single from ''Nervous System'' on June 2, 2017. "Uh Huh" is a

midtempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

guitar-driven

punk pop Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, ...

song that talks about the fight of mind and emotion. Michaels described it as "the feeling of the breath before the kiss". It was accompanied by a music video directed by

Emil Nava Emil William Capper Nava (born 29 March 1985) is a British music video director. After leaving school at 16, Emil started his career as a chef. He shot to fame after directing Jessie J's song " Do It Like A Dude". He has since directed over 1 ...

and premiered on her

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

channel on July 24, 2017.

Background and writing

"Uh Huh" was written in April 2017 by

Robin Fredriksson Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson (known collectively as Mattman & Robin) are Swedish songwriters and record producers. They are published by Wolf Cousins, a publishing company administered by Warner Chappell Music. In 2016, they ...

and Mattias Larsson. When talking about the idea of the song, Michaels said "I really wanted to capture that initial feeling of being next to somebody that you want so bad to kiss you...and it hasn't happened yet."

Recording and composition

Recording sessions for the song took place at Wolf Cousins Studios,

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and MXM Studios, Los Angeles, California and was engineered by Sam Holland and Cory Bice with assistance from Jeremy Lertola. The producers of the song,

, did the

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

and played drums, percussion, toms, guitar, bass, piano,

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

and claps with the background vocals being provided by Michaels and Tranter.

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, ...

mixed the track and Randy Merrill completed the

audio mastering Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will ...

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

, New York City. Musically, "Uh Huh" is a two minutes and fifty-seven second

mid-tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

pop song with

influences. In terms of

music notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proces ...

, "Uh Huh" was composed using common time in the key of

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

, with a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 69

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. The song follows the chord progression of E– Cm– Gm– A and Michaels' vocal range spans from the low note B₃ to the high note of F₅, giving the song one octave and five

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

of range. Lyrically, the song talks about the fight of mind and emotion which Michaels has described as "the feeling of the breath before the kiss."

Music video

Background and release

The official lyric video for the song was released on June 11, 2017, on Michael's YouTube and

channels. The official music video was released on July 25, 2017, and it was directed by

and produced by MaryAnn Tanedo. Michaels' love interest in the music video is Thomas Edwin. The music video was recorded in a set at Los Angeles, California.

Synopsis

The music video starts with a "very personal" and "candid" conversation about breakups, life, love and family between Michaels and Edwin. Nava asked them to start the shoot like that, he said "We forced a conversation that you would never have on the first date...We made a point of really trying to scratch the surface on the first conversation." The music video has a reference to the movie '' Birdman'', when Michaels is in one location but the colors are changing. The scene of switching clothes between suit and dress, was Michaels' idea. About that Michaels said "I think something that is really incredible, especially in this day in age, is sexuality and exploring that with each other, and feeling so comfortable with each other that you can do that."

Critical reception

Mike Wass of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolator or Idolater may also refer to: * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), a 2005 album by Blood Stain Child * ''Idolator'', a 1986 album by Ole Evenrud * "Idolater", a ...

called it "brighter, bolder and more instant" than her previous single " Issues", as well labeling the chorus as "obscenely catchy". He also claimed "it doesn't sound like anything else on radio, which is quite an achievement given that her sparse, emotional approach is being imitated by everyone from songwriting clients to random copycats." ''

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

''s Madeline Roth said "the songwriter-to-the-stars has unleashed 'Uh Huh', a loved-up earworm that finds her crazy in lust with a special someone. This bop should have no issues creepin' onto your summertime playlist." Raisa Bruner of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' stated "the singer-songwriter behind 'Issues' now brings us second single 'Uh Huh', a more up-tempo modern pop tune with an acoustic scratchiness and unexpected vocal kick. Michaels is making her mark on the pop landscape with her ability to keep coming up with songs that sound completely different from other charting tunes."

Credits and personnel

Recording and management * Recorded at Wolf Cousins Studios (

) and

MXM Studios MXM and Wolf Cousins are a pair of Swedish songwriting and production organisations, founded and established by songwriter and record producer Max Martin. MXM Studios and its affiliated producers are based in New York City, and Wolf Cousins Mus ...

(Los Angeles, California) * Mastered at

(New York City) * Thanks for the Songs Richard (BMI) All Rights on behalf of Itself and Thanks for the Songs Richard Administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., Wolf Cousins (STIM)/Warner Chappell Music Scandinavia (STIM), Justin's School for Girls (BMI) Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI) Personnel *

– vocals, songwriting, background vocals *

– songwriting, background vocals * Mattias Larsson – songwriting; production ,

, drums, percussion, toms, guitar, bass, piano,

, claps *

– songwriting; production , programming, drums, percussion, toms, guitar, bass, piano, synths, claps *Sam Holland –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

*Cory Bice – engineering *Jeremy Lertola – assistant engineering *

– mixing *Randy Merrill – mastering Credits adapted from ''

'' liner notes.

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Julia Michaels Julia Michaels songs 2017 singles 2017 songs Republic Records singles Songs written by Julia Michaels Songs written by Mattias Larsson Songs written by Robin Fredriksson Songs written by Justin Tranter Song recordings produced by Mattman & Robin Universal Music Group singles