"Girls Chase Boys" has catapulted the 34-year-old singer into the spotlight after nearly a decade in the music business. This summer, she struck up a friendship with superstar Taylor Swift, who praised Ms. Michaelson's new album "Lights Out" on Twitter. And on Wednesday, Ms. Michaelson headlined her biggest show thus far, playing to a devoted sold-out crowd of 5,500—including Ms. Swift—at SummerStage in New York City's Central Park.
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With her latest album, she changed course, bending more toward pop and away from indie rock. As the music lightened, her lyrics grew darker. In "Lights Out," her most serious album yet, nearly every song deals with death.
"A lot of what I wrote about in the past was just straight up love and I have no problem admitting that," she says. "Lights Out," which was released in April, is "more about coming to terms with losing people and your mortality."
The album grew out of watching her mother battle cancer and undergo a bone-marrow transplant. At the same time, Ms. Michaelson was struggling with Graves' disease, an immune-system malady that affects the thyroid, as well as acid reflux, which made it difficult to sing. Her dog died, capping a long, dismal period.
"It was just the year of gloom and doom," she says.
Queen of self empowerement and strength in the face of horrible things
Lights Out is a solid album
I'm glad she's finally getting the recognition she's deserved for so long tbh