Missy Higgins: a pure new voice rises out of the outback

Interview, August, 2005 by Ben Lee

Missy Higgins's first brush with fame in her native Australia occurred in high school when she won a demo-tape contest run by the country's national radio station, Triple J. Her song "All for Believing" was quickly added to the channel's playlist, and so began the story of one of Australia's newest stars. A classically trained pianist, Higgins grew up in Melbourne and began playing in jazz quintets and writing her own songs before she could drive. Her moody, majestic full-length debut, The Sound of White (Reprise), was released in her homeland late last year and has been a juggernaut ever since, topping the charts in a country where pop stars and raucous rockers often rule the roost. With the release of her record in America and a mounting tour on her mind, the 22-year-old singer talks to her fellow countryman prodigal songwriter, Ben Lee.

BEN LEE: The first thing I want to ask you about is the success of your album, The Sound of White, back home in Australia. It's like the Australian Thriller [1982]--it's just massive. How's that been?

MISSY HIGGINS: It's been a crazy ride. It's weird because I kind of feel like it's not happening to me, like the Missy Higgins who's having all this success and whose album is doing so well and is really well-known now in Australia is not me. It's like that person stepped out of me and is enjoying all the success and basking in the glory while I'm just kind of watching from the sidelines, giggling. I've pretty much been overseas the entire time that it's been getting so big in Australia, so I literally have not really been experiencing any of that.

BL: Yeah, it's just unbelievable. It only really hit me how huge your record was when I got on the Qantas plane back to Australia, and they were showing this, like, 30-minute documentary about you. I was blown away. Someone told me that when you originally did your deal with your record label, it was on the condition that you could have a year off to go backpacking. Is that true?

MH: Yeah. I was in my last year of high school when I started looking for a record label, and for years I'd been planning to take a year off to go backpacking after I graduated. I'd been saving up for it with my best friend, and it's something I really wanted to do. So I told that to all the various record company people and just kind of watched their reactions.

BL: So it was like a test?

MH: Yeah. If they squirmed in their seats and didn't want me to go, then it was a good indication that they basically wanted to shove me into recording right away, which I didn't want to do.

BL: That's so savvy. Most people would be seduced by the opportunity, thinking if they don't jump now, it will never come again. You definitely had to have confidence in yourself that it would be there when you were ready. Before I met you I'd been hearing about you because you'd been playing around. Evan Dando told me, "You've got to meet Missy Higgins. She's amazing, and she's so beautiful--she's so beautiful." I remember him saying that and thinking about how, as a female in the entertainment business, you have to deal with getting judged for superficial reasons, like the way you look and the way your dress. Have you gotten any pressure to glam up? How have you handled that part of things?

MH: That was another thing I was really cautious about when looking for a record deal. I knew that there would be people that would want to dress me and make me sing a certain way. There was a record company that I went to visit in the early days, and I just got the feeling that they really wanted me to be something easier and more typical for the public to digest. So my instincts kicked in, and I was repelled by that meeting. I just had a bad feeling about it and didn't go back there. Record companies in general are scared to try new things and to go down avenues where no one else has gone before.

BL: Now that people are hearing your music, do you feel any pressure when it comes to writing or playing?

MH: I find that not so much a pressure but a responsibility, because I think that music really does have the power to change people and influence them.

BL: Well, there are the laws of karma. [laughs] But you're so candid--not just in your songs but as a person--and that's where your power comes from. Whenever you're honest with people, it's like you're setting them free. It's a no-lose situation.

MH: But it's also like when you give yourself up completely by falling in love. Showing people your true self is always going to be scary because it could backfire. They could turn around and say, "I don't like who you are." And then you might never be the same.

BL: That's the fear of opening up--that you'll get rejected. So many artists have so many protective layers. They're writing songs with personas and characters, and they're not talking from their hearts.

MH: A lot of people don't really know who they are, I guess. Or a lot of people know who they are, but they don't really like it, so they're trying to convince themselves and everyone else that they are someone else.