Julia Michaels Reveals How Boyfriend JP Saxe Inspired New Album Not in Chronological Order

Julia Michaels is in love — and you can hear it on her debut album, Not in Chronological Order, which she dropped Friday.

The pop star, 27, has been dating fellow singer-songwriter JP Saxe, 28, since they wrote their Grammy-nominated duet "If the World Was Ending" in 2019. The pair's romance blossomed as they quarantined amid the coronavirus pandemic together, their love inspired her new record — and he even cowrote two of the tracks.

RELATED: Julia Michaels on Being Nominated for Song of the Year Grammy with Boyfriend JP Saxe: 'It's Special'

Trae Patton/NBC/Getty Julia Michaels

"We have something good," says Michaels, who adds she's in the happiest and healthiest place of her life.

Michaels — who launched to fame in 2017 with "Issues," her breakthrough single about relationship insecurities — has fought long and hard for this happiness.

Julia Michaels, Not in Chronological Order

Before, "I was very drawn to drama and toxicity and to a certain way that I thought love was supposed to be. I thought that because I am who I am, I deserved a certain type of love, and I was so wrong," Michaels says of her dysfunctional relationships before Saxe. "Then you spend every single day with someone for an entire year that is wonderful and loving and communicative and meets you halfway ... I got to fall in love in a very weird situation. I'm very grateful."

The euphoric dance track "Lie Like This" was the first song Michaels wrote for the autobiographical Not in Chronological Order, which documents her life leading up to and with Saxe.

Julia Michaels/Instagram Julia Michaels & JP Saxe

The pair collaborated on two of the album's 10 tracks: "All Your Exes" and "Little Did I Know."

"We figured if the first song we wrote together got us a Grammy nomination, we should keep writing together," Michaels jokes of their creative chemistry.

When they're not working together, they prefer their low-key life at home in L.A. and no-frills date nights.

"He'll rub my neck a little, then we'll drink boba and watch Shark Tank or something supernerdy. I look at happiness in microdoses," she says, "and all the little things equate to a larger happiness."

For more from Julia Michaels, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.