Everybody

Ingrid Michaelson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 25, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cabin 24
• ASIN: B002H6NVR4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #25 in Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk > Singer-Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

"This is my big girl record," declares Ingrid Michaelson of Everybody, her second full-length CD out August 25. "It's almost a loss of innocence. I'm 29 years old and I shouldn't worry if my mom and dad know that I kissed a boy from listening to one of my songs, but I remember on my first album I was like, 'Can I say that?'" On that first album, 2007's critically lauded Girls and Boys, the singer/songwriter infiltrated the mainstream airways with smart love songs like "The Way I Am," a single that has gone on to sell over one million copies worldwide. With Everybody, she brings a newfound wisdom and maturity to her music, gleaned from touring the world. "This album is very autobiographical, it's about the past year in a half of my life and choices that I've made," Michaelson says. "I had other songs that weren't about that and I purposely didn't put them on the album. If it didn't fit the record I kicked it off!" Born in New York City and raised by her mother, a sculptor, and her father, a classical composer, Ingrid has artistry in her DNA. At four she began taking piano lessons but it wasn't until after she graduated college with a degree in musical theatre and was touring the country in a theater troupe that she began to write the dreamy, pensive-but-poppy songs that would connect with millions. Her music taps into universal themes like self-doubt, betrayal, and of course love, but her spirit is fiercely indie; Ingrid's last studio album, 2007's Girls and Boys, was released on the label she founded, Cabin 24 Records. The record's soaring delicacy caught the ear of Grey's Anatomy's music supervisor and after featuring several of her songs in earlier episodes, Ingrid's heart wrenching ode to emotional paralysis "Keep Breathing" was chosen to soundtrack the show's 2007 season finale, which more than 25 million teary-eyed fans watched. Afterwards, everyone went Ingrid crazy: Her lyrics and name were #1 and #2 on Google's most searched items list, Girls and Boys climbed the iTunes charts and she began to earn national media attention. That fall, when Ingrid's song "The Way I Am" was featured in Old Navy's commercial, it propelled Girls and Boys into the Billboard Top 200 and the record hit #1 on both the Heatseeker and Alternative New Artist Album charts. Ingrid's MySpace page registered 90,000 hits per day and she reached the #4 song overall on iTunes - all unprecedented feats for an independent release. Since then, Ingrid has continued to chart on the Billboard Top 200 multiple times selling over 300,000 copies of Girls and Boys. Since the release of Girls and Boys two short years ago, Ingrid has appeared on Good Morning America, Live with Regis & Kelly, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, NPR's Talk of the Nation, Fuse TV and was a VH1 You Oughta Know artist. She has also been the subject of print features in publications as varied as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Billboard. Ingrid's rise was so quick she didn't have time to ease into touring. Within a few months the singer, who had never played more than a few local shows at a time, found herself on tour with Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz, as was selling out 1500-capacity club venues on her own. Ingrid adjusted with typical alacrity and good-humor, honing a performance style that's very much in keeping with her quirky personality. Her sets routinely include her now-plentiful list of hits plus witty covers of songs like "Ice Ice Baby," and the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. With all her heady success Ingrid could easily have gone diva by now but that's not her style. Instead of lounging by a hotel pool demanding bowls of green Jolly Ranchers or falling out of clubs at four in the morning in foreign cities she amuses herself by making up dances to Jordin Sparks songs with her roommate, then putting them on YouTube. And she keeps herself creatively fresh by insisting on a similar level of commitment to individualism in the way she approaches her work. "I did most of the vocals for the new record at Shelter Island studios but I ended up re-doing them in my producer's closet, which is his vocal booth," Ingrid says of her work with producer Dan Romer. "I felt better being in there for some reason. I wrote [first single] "Maybe" two months ago. It wasn't going to be on the record. A song we threw together at the last minute ended up being the single. The other single "Everybody" - we recorded the drums at the fancy studio and sang at the fancy studio, but everything has been redone at Dan's house anyway. When I was in Dan's house there was no pressure." It's exactly this insistence on keeping things unflinchingly honest, regardless of professional success or personal heartache that defines Ingrid's connection to her fans. She rose to fame by singing about her faith in love, and now she's written an album that questions that faith, which she knows is risky but she also knows its right. "With the first album I was just learning how to use my tools. Now I feel like I can sharpen my skills and say things how I want to say them. Now I feel free to say things about myself that I would have maybe been embarrassed about before. It's like a big old therapy session."

Product Description

Highly anticipated 2009 album from the singer/songwriter. Everybody is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to her 2007 release, Girls and Boys, which spawned the hit single 'The Way I Am' and launched Ingrid into the mainstream consciousness. The New York Times describes Michaelson's unique musical approach as 'soulful, idiosyncratic,' while Rolling Stone loves her 'sweet but mellow lounge-pop harmonies,' and Entertainment Weekly hails Michaelson as 'a deft mistress of quirk folk: a grassroots phenomenon.' Features 12 tracks including the first single 'Maybe'.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Michaelson's Best Thus Far August 26, 2009

By Berkley Todd

Format:Audio CD

A huge fan of her past work, I've been anticipating the release of this album for months. My expectations were incredibly high, yet somehow, Michaelson has managed to exceed them. With this album she has finally solidified her sound, and with access to higher production values, she has made good use of the studio. This album is not over-produced, as we often see happen to many artists like her, but is excellently orchestrated on every track to achieve an effect that is simultaneously intimate and grand. These sounds would fill the largest concert hall, yet also be very in place at your local coffee shop. This is what sets this album apart from her previous work "Girls & Boys." Here, we such a much broader variety of sounds and musical colors; however, they are all distinctly Michaelson, tied together by her unique, sultry vocal quality.

All songs seem relatively simple lyrically, but upon closer examination you'll find that the lyrics actually work on many levels, using beautiful metaphors and often idiomatic phrases to achieve a deep sort of representational meaning. For example, in the stunning ballad Are We There Yet, Michaelson sings of silver linings in clouds and images of a peaceful home to create a sense of longing for a non-present simple love. Though lyrics often repeat, they do so out of necessity, reaching as deep as they can with their poignant messages of hope, love, and loss.

While there isn't a bland track on the album, standouts include Soldier, Everybody, Are We There Yet, Sort Of, The Chain, Mountain and the Sea, Locked Up, and Maybe. An absolute must have for your collection, "Everybody" may just become one of your favorites. In just a day, it has quickly become one of mine.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent November 18, 2009

By Shayna N. Dunn

Format:Audio CD

I've always been a fan of Ingrid Michaelson and think that she's very talented. However, with her other albums, I really got the impression that she was still searching for her niche. The music was good, and the lyrics were nice but sometimes trite. I can't listen to her older albums over and over (which is how I gadge the greatness of a singer/group/whatever). This album, on the other hand, is a lot different. I looked up all the lyrics of every song and found them, above all, clever, but also heart-wrenching in some places, funny in others, real-life, and incredibly appropriate. The music is equally catchy and lovely.

This album is a tribute to Ingrid's incredible growth as both a musician and a woman. I can only believe that in the future, she will continue in the same manner.

Great CD that I would recommend to anyone.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Ingrid Michaelson Takes A Step Toward Mainstream September 6, 2009

By Philip R. Heath TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

So far 2009 has seen a number of "sophomore" releases from artists, and Everybody from Ingrid Michaelson is one of them (I'm not counting the EP Be OK but limiting to major releases). Fans looking for Girls and Boys Part II will not find what they are looking for in Everybody. However deviating from Girls and Boys is not necessarily a bad thing. I found Everybody to be a much more focused work. It is also much more mainstream; however, some will not look on this favorably. You could almost make

Instrumentally, Everybody has more depth and variety. I loved the violin and cello on "Soldier" and "Incredible Love". Michaelson also introduces Ukulele on songs such as "Everybody" and "Mountain And The Sea". It has a feel similar to Israel Kamakawiwo`Ole's rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from 50 First Dates. I also really enjoyed the subtly stated use of trumpet on "So Long". Perhaps as a way of at least loosely connecting with her past work, "Everybody" and "Mountain And The Sea" also feature the folksy hand clapping that Michaelson used on Girls and Boys.

Vocally, Everybody features more of Michaelson's lower register. This comes right out of the gate on "Soldier", and it continues on other tracks such as "Sort Of", "Maybe", and "Incredible Love". That is not to say that Michaelson has switched exclusively to a dusky alto. Songs such as "Are We There Yet", "Men Of Snow", and "The Chain" have plenty of her upper register and falsetto. "The Chain" is the studio version of a song that we first heard on Be OK. It has the same vocal round at the end as the live version did, and it just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of Everybody. As a final note, Everybody has good vocal harmony. I really liked the way this came through on the chorus of "Mountain And The Sea" and "Maybe".

Lyrically, Michaelson plays things much more straight up than she did on Girls and Boys. Love and relationships dominate Everybody as seen on "Soldier" - "And so it goes. The soldier knows./The battle with the heart isn't easily won." and "Maybe" - "Maybe in the future/you're gonna come back/you're gonna come back around". It is obvious from the title alone on "Incredible Love" and "Once Was Love". The one song that would fit with the more unique style of Girls and Boys is "Men Of Snow" where Michaelson tells of building a snowman that she tells her troubles to only to find him melted the next day. Even this still seems friendlier to a wider audience than most of Girls and Boys.

All in all, Everybody is a major step forward for Ingrid Michaelson. While I enjoyed Girls and Boys, it almost seems esoteric compared to Everybody. Michaelson has created a sound that while featuring greater breadth in vocal range and instrumentation is at the same time more focused. Fans of KT Tunstall, Sonya Kitchell, and A Fine Frenzy should give this a try.

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