Ingrid Michaelson may have one of the hottest songs in the country, but that doesn’t mean she’s comfortable with the red-carpet treatment.
Less than a month into her first tour that hasn’t required driving in a van, Michaelson sounds wiped out by the luxuries of success.
“I’m in a bunk in a tour bus,” Michaelson said, struggling against a yawn. “This is only my third day, so I’m sort of not getting the sleeping thing down.
“So I got up and showered and got dressed — and now I’m back in the bunk,” she added with a laugh. “I’m trying to get some sleep, but it’s not happening.”
Michaelson’s hit, “The Way I Am” — which many fans first heard in a popular Old Navy ad campaign last fall — is No. 3 at AAA radio and No. 16 at the Hot AC format.
Less than two years ago, Michaelson was a Staten Island, N.Y., singer-songwriter with, as The New York Times noted, “a MySpace page and a dream.” She lived with her parents and taught theater part-time to kids.
But after a music licensing company approached her on MySpace, Michaelson was shocked to see her music highlighted in “Grey’s Anatomy.” Then came Old Navy sweater ads.
“The fact that I’m making a living doing music is pretty outrageous,” Michaelson said. “I have to stop and think about it every once in a while.”
Like the stock market, young music careers plunge quickly in the 21st Century. Yet Michaelson could be an exception, at least partly because her back story is interesting.
“At first, I was the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ girl, then I was the Old Navy girl, now it’s, ‘She’s doing it herself without the label thing,’ ” Michaelson said, “which I think is the best angle of all of them to have.”
Michaelson admitted she was somewhat surprised that “The Way I Am” wound up being her breakout tune. Michaelson’s other songs — especially “Keep Breathing,” which was heard by 25 million viewers during the 2007 “Grey’s Anatomy” season finale — seem like equally strong candidates. But “The Way I Am” has a personal touch that has resonated deeply with fans.
“Some things connect instantly and last, and some things are just kind of like a quick burst, you know?” Michaelson said. “And I feel like that one, for some reason, is lasting.”
