Missy Higgins
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Missy Higgins

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“There was so much that went on over those few years I guess every time I’m asked I kind of am still stuck as to what to say,” Higgins says when asked whether she is sick of that story. “I did so much and went through so many emotional states and headspaces. At one point, I was really positive about never doing music again and then at another point I was completely distraught because I didn’t have music in my life and I didn’t know how to get it back. I feel like I could write a novel about what I went through over those few years.”

Higgins has grown up before our eyes from triple j Unearthed success to multiple ARIA winner. She crossed-over from indie, triple j kid and into the adoring arms of mainstream success, somehow managing to maintain admiration from both audiences. Her latest album, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle, was a drastic departure from the sound that seemed so etched within her and frankly, couldn’t have been a better musical return. It is still, though, the personality of Higgins, as much as her music, that seems to entrance so many. In the early days she was portrayed as the wholesome, private school, girl-next-door and yet she never played into that role at all. It was just implied by everyone else. Launching herself of The Hoff onstage at her first ARIA’s seemed to paint a picture of the quirky and downright fun Higgins that would creep through more and more as the years went by. Yet next to this was her heart-breaking and intense music, the kind of songs you put on when you want to curl up and cry shamelessly about an unrequited love. She came across as a mass of contradictions but as time has shown, Higgins is just like anyone else – she is a myriad of moods, ideas and motives. Social media has allowed her audience to gain an even greater level of insight into Missy Higgins – the person. When talking to Higgins she is relaxed, warm and open but often her sentences start with a giggle that’s hard to read. Is she holding back? Is there something more she wants to say that she’s censoring? Does she just think the question is ridiculous? At the end of the day, deciphering meaning from a giggle is mere speculation.

“I guess I’m trying not to play a role,” she says honestly about her public persona. “I think early on in my career I was so paranoid and stiff in interviews because I’d been warned so much about interviewers and how they can twist your words and write up something implying that you intended to say one thing when you meant the opposite. Because I was young and had no experience, I was overly cautious. That just gets kind of really tiring. Over the past few years since I took a big break and came back into it I just feel much more comfortable being myself and it’s so much more relaxing when you’re not trying to filter what you say or think too hard about what comes out of your mouth.”

While the first round of interviews for this album were littered with “Where have you been?” it is impossible to ignore the next pattern of questioning – what’s it like to be back – better, worse or completely different to what was expected?

“Totally a lot better than I expected,” she says with a burst of enthusiasm. “I wanted to take a risk with this album, not necessarily just for the sake of it or for surprising people but to push myself. I could easily have fallen back into the same old pattern of song writing and recording that I used to do which is stripped-back and acoustic and very simple structures but I think this time I wanted to try something different song writing wise and collaboratively. You just never know how that’s gonna go. There were certain songs on the album that, like Temporary Love, that I was thinking ‘Oh my god, can I really put this on my album?’ It has this whole Kylie Minogue disco feel to it and I really loved it because that’s a side of my personality that’s really fun and I love pop too. I didn’t know how my hardcore fans would like that; you know the people who really love that earnest, stripped-down vibe of The Sound Of White.”

Recorded in Nashville with Butterfly Boucher and Brad Jones on as co-producers and Boucher, Katie Herzig and a few others joining Higgins as co-writers on a few tracks, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle is so starkly different to her previous releases that it’s easy to assume that her sound was somehow tailored for her in the early days. You hear stories of young, talented artists falling victim to the sculpting of record label executives but Higgins explains that was never really the case for her.

“I had a lot of freedom and I think the downfall at times was that I was young and didn’t have confidence in my own opinions; I didn’t trust myself,” she says. “I probably went with the flow of what other people thought was right for me a bit more than what I would these days. But comparatively, from the get go, my record company gave me a lot of freedom and they always listened to me. When I wanted to take a year off before recording the album to go backpacking they thought that was a great idea so they’ve always been supportive and nurturing me as an artist. I think there’s something to be said for diving head first into it at such an early stage in my career. If I’d spent a couple of more years developing a stronger sense of what I wanted to sound like I reckon that first album would’ve sounded a lot different but in a sense, that’s how you learn. I want every album to be an accurate reflection of where I am in that stage of my life. There’s something really beautiful and innocent about those first few recordings.”

Higgins 2.0 seems a lot more confident and daring. While she’s always been outspoken with regard to her views on environmental issues – factory farming, the destruction of the Kimberley, and so on – her ever-questioned sexuality (folks, there are people who like boys and girls and defining that is redundant, ‘kay?) and opinions on more controversial issues were censored in the past. Social media has thrown that censorship out the window and Higgins appears to be embracing the influence that comes with being in the public eye. “I’m much more, I guess, at ease with myself and my opinions,” she says. “I really don’t care so much about what people think now than what I used to but there’s definitely that thing in the back of my mind where it’s hurtful when you get replies on Twitter or Facebook where people throw your opinions back in your face and tell you [that] you don’t have a right to speak up.” (A host of attacks came just recently when she dared to congratulate Barack Obama’s presidential win). “The difference now is that I can just see how closed-minded that is because everyone has the right to express their opinions. It’s hard not to feel like I should guard my opinions but I’m trying to speak up about what I believe in because there’s really no shame in it.”

The reality is, however, that Higgins is a brand and a brand can be tainted by its political position. She may not like to think that, and her audience definitely likes to forget it and think more of Higgins as a friend they just never get to see for coffee, but her livelihood depends on the sale of her music. Damn that whole art-equals-product-equals-money cycle. “I try not to focus on that more than anything else,” she says. “I don’t like the idea that I’m a business or part of a production line. It’s an interesting predicament to be in when your art becomes your work which becomes a product and essentially my product is me which is a strange way to live. In a way my music, and me as a public persona or whatever, I’ve always been fairly myself. On stage I don’t put on a persona or turn into another person like David Bowie or whatever so it’s always been fairly real. I feel like if somebody isn’t going to listen to my music because of my political views than I don’t really want them to listen to my music anyway. So, um, yeah,” she says, trailing off a little with a whisper of that trademark giggle.

BY KRISSI WEISS