Music Nation is a Music Video Competition for Independent Artists

Staten Island native Ingrid Michaelson was born into a house of all things artistic. Following in the eclectic footsteps of her mother, a sculptor, and her father, a classical composer, Ingrid began piano lessons at only four years old. Her songwriting career began after college while touring the country in a national theater troupe and spending all her free time composing the songs that would eventually make it onto her current CD, Girls and Boys. An entrepreneur as well as a talented musician, Ingrid released Girls and Boys on her own Cabin 24 Records. A mere three months after the CD release, Ingrid won a national songwriting award, sponsored by West Virginia’s Mountainstage. In November 2006, an unexpected phone call catapulted her career forward. The music supervisor from Grey’s Anatomy wanted to use the song “Breakable” from Ingrid’s CD in an upcoming episode. Following the exposure on Grey’s Anatomy, Ingrid’s career as an independent artist immediately hit the fast track and she began to achieve milestones previously unheard of for an artist not signed to a major label. Both national radio and the blogosphere began paying attention. After a second song appeared on Grey’s Anatomy, Ingrid’s music began climbing the iTunes pop chart. The momentum continued when two more songs were chosen to air in back-to-back episodes. The track “Corner of Your Heart” was followed by “Keep Breathing,” which was chosen for the most coveted slot on TV—the dramatic climax during the final six minutes of the Grey’s Anatomy 2007 season finale, seen by 25+ million viewers. The night the finale aired, the reaction to her beautiful song was instantaneous. Both Ingrid and her lyrics were #1 and #2 on Google’s most searched items list in the U.S. Sales of the album Girls and Boys immediately climbed to #53 on the iTunes overall charts and have remained in the Top 100 since its debut in January 2007. National media began to take notice as well and in early summer 2007, Ingrid appeared on Good Morning America, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Fuse TV. She’s also been the subject of a front-page feature article in the Wall Street Journal. In late September and early October, Ingrid’s song “The Way I Am” was featured in Old Navy’s fall commercial ad campaign for their “Fair Isle” sweaters. The public’s reaction to her infectious song was immediate and widespread, as the blogosphere buzzed and major press from Rolling Stone to Entertainment Weekly to Billboard came calling. The spot’s popularity resulted in Girls and Boys cracking the Billboard Top 200 for the first time, even claiming the #1 spots on both the Heatseeker and Alternative New Artist Album charts. Her MySpace page registered 90,000 hits per day and her music reached to the #2 Pop album, #11 overall album, #3 Pop song, and #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, even reaching as high at #63 (also #6 Independent Album, #16 Alternative Album, and #27 Digital Album), selling over 210,000 copies of Girls and Boys and more than 650,000 digital downloads of “The Way I Am.” Ingrid has also performed on Good Morning America, Live with Regis & Kelly, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and Last Call With Carson Daly, graced the cover of Billboard magazine and has been featured in People, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Paste, and The New Yorker, among others. “The Way I Am” also continues to climb the radio charts and crossover to the Top 40, holding the #2 spot on AAA radio and #16 on Hot AC. Set to stay on the road for most of 2008, Ingrid is also fast becoming known for her charming stage presence, quirky, self-effacing sense of humor, and fan-interactive live show. Her audiences grow as word about her music and her story spreads, selling out well-known venues like Webster Hall in New York (1400 capacity) weeks in advance just a year after getting her start in much smaller rooms. Ingrid is staying true to her indie roots by continuing to release Girls and Boys through her own Cabin 24 Records imprint, with distribution via Original Signal/RED. For more information on Ingrid Michaelson, please contact Original Signal Recordings: Amanda Pitts / (212) 625-3590 x319 / amanda@originalsignalrecordings.com http://www.myspace.com/ingridmichaelson http://originalsignalrecordings.com/ PRAISE FOR INGRID MICHAELSON: “A year ago Ingrid Michaelson was as aspiring singer-songwriter on Staen Island with a MySpace page and a dream. And along with her soulful, idiosyncratic music, that’s all she needed.” – The New York Times “You won’t find a more delightful two-minute ditty around right now than ‘The Way I Am,’ the handclapping highlight of singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson’s second album. Airy and acoustic, it floats along on a cloud of joy…” – People “…vibrant, calypso-soaked gem…With her sweet but mellow lounge-pop harmonies, she sounds like a Norah Jones for the argyle-sock set.” – Rolling Stone (about “The Way I Am”) “Ingrid Michaelson has a self-described "librarian chic" (she wears glasses), cinnamon-color eyes that match her hair, a crystalline voice she softens with a touch of vibrato, and a fantastically twisty approach to songcraft.” – Paste “…Ingrid Michaelson is bewitching in her geek glasses, softly singing her insecurities to a world that thinks she’s coyly crooning to a lover found, one that will take her “The Way I Am” …vulnerable or triumphant – it’s attractive because it’s an intimate, unaffected expression of yearning or sweet relief crafted with equal parts resignation and hope.” - Harp