Human Behaviour
She’s written for Cheryl, had a massive radio hit in the US and almost crashed a Tony Bennett recording session. She’s Ingrid Michaelson.
Ed Power, 31 Aug 2012
Michaelson sold out Whelan’s in Dublin the other month while her new album, Human Again, has already been a hit in America. At the same time, she’s mightily conflicted about how she got here. Rather than breaking through on radio or being championed in the press, she owes her early success to the support of TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and a commercial for the Old Navy clothing chain, which featured her song ‘The Way I Am’. It’s a cute tune – though not, she insists, representative of her work.
“It was this little tune that I never thought anyone would ever hear. It wasn’t a favourite – though that’s always the way it goes.”
On Human Again she tries to alter the perception that she’s a kooky underdog, forever strumming her ukelele and mouthing ditzy lyrics.
“The world sees the tip of the iceberg,” Michaelson concludes. “I want to show the full iceberg. On this record I intentionally didn’t do, you know, the ‘little ditties’. It isn’t that I don’t want to license my music. But I want to put my best foot forward and show there’s another side to me. Of course, I shouldn’t complain too much. If it wasn’t for that one little ditty, I wouldn’t be sitting here, talking to you.”
Ed Power
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