By Regis Behe
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
It happens almost every time Ingrid Michaelson does an interview. Journalists ask how her MySpace page led to a publishing deal. About the Googling frenzy that occurred when four of her songs were placed on the hit television series "Grey's Anatomy."
"I can't say I'm upset about it," says Michaelson, who appears Monday at Club Cafe, South Side. "As long as fans like my music, publications can keep writing about me in terms of the business."
It is hard to complain about print features in Rolling Stone, Billboard and Glamour magazines, let alone the placement of a song, "The Way I Am," in an Old Navy campaign. But it seems that short shrift has been given to the music itself, which is shame. Michaelson is a literate, often humorous, songwriter -- "I'll buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair," she sings in "The Way I Am" -- and a talented singer.
Call it luck or fate, but Michaelson was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the opportunities presented to her. And while she's been referred to as the poster girl for success on MySpace, she hasn't exactly invented this path to recognition.
"It's not like I discovered this," Michaelson says. "I always tell people that even if you are offered a lot of opportunities, you can't sit back. You have to really work hard."
And, she might add, you have to take chances. Michaelson admits when she began writing songs, she thought she had to fit into the stereotypical singer-songwriter mode, writing love and loss and heartbreak and all the other things that have consumed musicians since the guitar was invented.
Then, the Staten Island native discovered the music of Magnetic Fields and Death Cab for Cutie.
"I realized I could write anything," Michaelson says of the songs on her album "Boys and Girls." "I can write what my brain is thinking. I don't have to conform to some sort of model. I just started writing what was in my head."
A new album, "Be OK," shows a different side of Michaelson. The songs are quieter, more intimate.
"It's not a fully produced, full-length record," she says. "That's why it's softer."
"Be OK" is also a musical Valentine, of sorts, for fans. Michaelson included a version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," a staple of her live shows, and live versions of three other songs that are fan favorites. A portion of the proceeds from the album are donated to Stand Up to Cancer (www.standup2cancer.org), a nonprofit organization founded by the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Clearly, Michaelson's profile is ascending ... except in her worldview.
"I don't feel like a superstar," she says. "It's not like I have it made. I'm still driving around in a van, and it's not that glamorous. There are times I can't believe some of the things that have happened, like getting on the cover of Billboard. For the most part, that stuff comes in waves. You still have to go out and work."
Courtesy of http://www.pittsburghlive.com/
