“If The World Was Ending”, is premised on two singers (JP Saxe and Julia Michaels), who portray the role of exes, having mutually yet separately experienced an earthquake. That harrowing event causes them to imagine what they would actually do “if the world was ending”, i.e. an event transpiring where there is no coming back from. And the way they picture the scenario is that such a significant occurrence may actually have the power to bring them back together. 

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Actually they realize that yes, they may have had valid reasons to call it quits in the first place. However, getting right down to the heart of the matter, it is pretty obvious that they still care about each other as when disaster (i.e. the earthquake) struck, one of their first reactions was to wonder what the other was doing. Moreover the chorus indicates that if the end of the world actually were to occur, they would prefer being in each other’s embrace as opposed to anywhere or anything else. 

So the best way of summarizing the lyrics are as expressing the sentiments of two lovers that have parted though never have nor likely ever will truly get over each other.

“But if the world was ending, you’d come over right?
Would you love me for the hell of it?
All our fears would be irrelevant
If the world was ending, you’d come over, right?
The sky’d be falling while I hold you tight
No, there wouldn’t be a reason why
We would even have to say goodbye”

What Julia Michaels has said about “If The World Was Ending”

According to Michaels, the lyrics are about a special person in your life you are separated from because of a misunderstanding or an issue. However, you’d swiftly run back to them (without letting anything holding you back) in the event the world was coming to an end.

What JP Saxe said also

Speaking to Genius, JP Saxe also shed some light on the song’s meaning. According to him, it is about a situation that would make every reason you have for not talking to a particular person in your life “no longer relevant”.

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According to Saxe, the track was inspired by a 2019 earthquake in Los Angeles.

JP Saxe wrote this song exclusively with Julia Michaels. The pair wrote and recorded the song in just a single day.

FINNEAS (who is best known for being singer Billie Eilish‘s brother) produced the song.

Arista Records released this song on the 19th of October, 2019. It was a single from JP Saxe’s second EP titled “Hold It Together”.

Chart-wise, “If the World Was Ending” can be described as a moderately successful track. It landed at #14 on the UK’s official singles chart. In the US, it reached #27 on the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart.