All My CDs, pt 78: Girls and Boys

Girls and Boys - Ingrid Michaelson

For a long time in my late teens and early twenties, I listened to zero radio and only found out about music through word-of-mouth or from online services like Pandora Radio which are blind to popularity. As a result my collection began to skew toward the obscure, and I began (subconsciously at first) to assume that any artist I enjoyed was relatively unheard of on the pop scene. I learned of Ingrid Michaelson from the same friend who introduced me to the likes of Sufjan Stevens, the Wailin’ Jennys, and October Project, and didn’t realize for quite some time that she lies more along the pop end of the popularity-obscurity scale. She’s hardly Taylor Swift, but... well, she’s a little bit Taylor Swiftish, if you catch my drift.

I like Ingrid Michaelson for how she can sing songs with heartbreakingly sad lyrics and cloyingly happy-sounding music. The first song on this album, Die Alone (what a cheerful title), begins with a fifties-esque chorus of “Ba-da-da”s before the lead vocals come in with “Woke up this morning / a funny taste in my head /spackled some butter / over my whole-grain bread”. The song is about newfound love, but makes it sound like a death. A happy kind of death. There’s truth to that juxtaposition, and each song on this album strikes the balance in about the same precarious spot. It’s delightfully nerve-wracking.

The title song is another prime example of the happy anxiety principle at work:

We are so fragile
and our cracking bones make noise
and we are just
breakable
breakable
breakable 
girls and boys

All sung in a light and lilting voice, with simple piano backing, as if broken bones and stopping hearts were standard fare for feel-good love songs.

As someone who’s been hurt so many times, and struggled to maintain an optimistic outlook in life because of it, I can totally get behind music that puts a cheery veneer on the horrifying imagery and sensations of heartbreak. When I’m feeling especially dysfunctional, I can put on some of these songs and at least sound happy when I’m falling apart.

Right now the song I’m identifying with the most is Overboard. It nicely captures the tension between wanting to be seen as strong and independent, but also feeling tempted to play the distressed damsel:

I never thought I’d be the type
to fall overboard
just so you can catch me

Next: Be Okay