Having consecutive hit albums usually does wonders for an artist’s career and confidence.
But you can’t tell that to singer-songwriter Michelle Branch.
It’s fair to say that Branch has been on a serious roll in recent years. Her debut album, “The Spirit Room,” earned widespread notice in 2001 and ultimately went platinum. Her sophomore release, this year’s “Hotel Paper,” roared out of the gate and climbed to the No. 2 spot on the Billboard chart. The album has since achieved gold-record status.
Yet despite her recording success, Branch admits she feels as if she still has something to prove as an artist.
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“I guess one of the reasons why I want to be taken more seriously is that this is what I do, and there’s nothing else that I could imagine ever doing to replace it. … I want to be that artist where people go, ‘you know what, regardless of how old she is or whether or not I like her style of music, you know she writes her own music and she’s creative and she’s an artist and she’ll probably be around longer than these other people.’ “
While pop princesses Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera have poured time and effort into retooling their images, Branch has devoted her energies to developing as a songwriter.
“A lot of people hearing the first record had one perception of me, I guess,” the 20-year-old artist says. “And I think the thing that a lot of people didn’t realize is that I’m very much an acoustic, organic artist, which obviously when you’re trying to get songs on radio doesn’t really work. So on this record, I wanted to find more of a balance where I could show more of my influences … and still make it listenable for the commercial audience.”
Instilled with passion, sentimentality and a rock ‘n’ roll heart, “Hotel Paper” leads off with a stinging hard-charger “Are You Happy Now?” then flows into a solid, accessible pace that concludes on a poignant note.
“I knew that I wanted to end the album kind of more on a–even though they’re relatively, I guess, sad songs–sense of hope,” Branch says. “If you listen to the album in that order from start to finish, it’s kind of in chronological order. It kind of tells a little story. It’s kind of book-ended.”
A hit album generally leads to lofty expectations for an artist’s next record. Although Branch has enjoyed two strong albums, she believes that commercial expectations for her work have not overshadowed her artistic sensibilities or desire.
“I think you try so hard to prove yourself to be taken seriously as an artist,” Branch says. “I haven’t gotten to a point where I don’t know what to do yet. And I think if I would have come out and had a successful album like Alanis Morissette or even say being in the position of Avril Lavigne, I think it would be a totally different take. And I’m actually really happy that I’m not in that position.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])