Ingrid Michaelson

Be OK (Cabin 24)

By Saskia Lacey
Published: December 2nd, 2008 | 9:00am

Ingrid Michaelson got her start as a singing barista; her first gig was performing once a week at her workplace, Muddy Cup Coffee House, a Staten Island café and performance space. Since opening for Jason Mraz's fall 2008 European tour and having three of her songs featured on Grey's Anatomy, Michaelson's life post–Muddy Cup has changed enormously.

Michaelson's latest release, Be OK, is a pop album with a cause: A benefit project dedicated to "raising funds to accelerate cancer research," a portion of Be OK's proceeds will go to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a charitable program supported by the American Association For Cancer Research.

On one hand, the album’s lyrics are melancholy and reflective. In "Lady In Spain," Michaelson is a girl in love with "a boy manufactured to destroy," and in "The Chain" she mourns lost love, "I cannot seem to operate / And you, my love, are gone." On the other hand, Michaelson's somber verse is often accompanied by cheerful instrumentation, imbuing each song with a Pollyanna-ish optimism.

Michaelson has said that she tries to express a lot using few words, and her lyrical minimalism is most effective in "The Way I Am," the popular 2007 single which first appeared on her debut album, Girls and Boys. In it, she describes love with simple, straight-to-the-heart lyrics, "You need a light, I'd find a match" and "If you are chilly, here, take my sweater." Michaelson's less-is-more aesthetic is quite often successful, but occasionally (as on the album's overly repetitive opening track "Be OK"), less is just less.

As a whole, Michaelson's Be OK is a lovely release that fans of Sarah Bareilles and Kate Nash will enjoy. Be OK also features the ethereal "Keep Breathing," a song she penned for Grey's Anatomy last fall, as well as a cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

—