“There’s a difference between adesperation that you have for somebodyyou put them on a pedestal; you don’teven know them that well but you think you’re in love with them,” she explains.“And then there’s a real, deep connection that you have with somebody that youspent many, many years with. You know them, and it’s like there’s no finishline.”
Michaelson says she spent much of herrelationship history in turbulent, fight-and-make-up romances, but now she’slearned better.
“I feel like, at times, we cansubstitute dramatics for actual, true love,” she says.
The experiences that led to thatconclusion form the core of her latest album, Everybody. It’s the second follow-up to her 2007 debut, Girls and Boys, the album with her cheerypiano-pop single “The Way I Am,” which sold zillions of sweaters as thesoundtrack to an Old Navy commercial.
“It’s a little bit of a concept album,”Michaelson says of Everybody. “It’ssort of the deterioration of a relationship, centering around the idea thatlove isn’t enough, it isn’t the only thing, and just because there’s love, itdoesn’t really mean anything. There have to be other things to back that up, tohelp sustain a relationship.”
The songs chronicle a relationship thatended a year ago, and even though it’s not a cheerful album, Michaelson says Everybody has a happy ending becauseshe’s in love again. She believes people can appreciate good relationship songsregardless of whether the songs are about being together or falling apart.
“I just write love songs,” she says.“I’m not trying to break any new ground.”
Michaelson’s trajectory to stardombegan when a music supervisor found her work on MySpace and placed several ofMichaelson’s songs on “Grey’s Anatomy” and other shows. Then she was asked ifshe’d like to write a song for “Grey’s.” That was the emotional “KeepBreathing,” which 25 million people heard during the big ending of the show’sdramatic season three finale in May 2007. In September of that year, her OldNavy commercial aired more than 65 times in prime time, according to Billboard magazine.
Of course, major label offers cameflying in. But, she explains, “I was already getting a lot of promotion fromtelevision shows and commercials and people were buying my album. I didn’t reallyneed anything else. So there was no point in giving up what I’d worked for sosomebody else could take 75%.”
That stance has earned her hero statusamong indie stalwarts, but she has major-league distribution and a team ofheavy-hitters behind her. She also knows her success is a product of exposurethat wouldn’t have happened without help. Still, she likes being her own boss.Having a significant other to share her success with is good, too. One thingseems sure: We’ll hear more about him on her next album.
IngridMichaelson plays an 8 p.m. show Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Turner Hall Ballroomwith opener Matthew Perryman Jones.
