BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
Top 40 Mainstream: # 5
Top 40 Tracks: # 6
Adult Top 40: # 9
Hot 100 Singles: # 12
Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay: # 31
Latin Pop Airplay: # 36
GLOBAL CHART ACHIEVEMENTS: # 2 in
New Zealand # 3 in
Taiwan # 8
in
Finland # 17 in
Chile
# 18 in the
UK # 28 in
Italy
# 46 in Switzerland
# 51 in Sweden # 60 in
France # 90 in
Germany
One day, when she was 15 years old, Michelle
Branch was jamming in the garage of her home in Sedona, Arizona
when the phone rang. It was a family friend, who discovered that
a potential customer to whom she was pitching a condo time-share
managed musicians. "Get over here now!" the friend hissed to the
aspiring young singer. Since her parents weren't home, Branch
"borrowed" a golf cart from the neighbors and raced across the city of
Sedona at five miles an hour to put her demo in the hands of the man
who would soon become her manager.
Fast-forward three years. Branch, now signed to Madonna's
Maverick Records, has a hit album, The Spirit Room, and an
infectious power-pop single called "Everywhere" that's attracting fans
on both MTV and VH1. Like her labelmate Alanis Morissette, Branch
sings like a bitter veteran of love's battlefields, but it's mainly
made-up: "When people ask me if I have a boyfriend, I tell them it's my
guitar, because really, it's what I love and it's what takes up all my
time. I really don't have time for anything else right now."
The cliché
question that comes to mind concerning 20-year-old
singer/songwriter/guitarist Michelle
Branch is:
Is she happy now?
A gander through the lyrics of her latest CD, Hotel Paper, makes it seem
like she doesn't smile much. The title refers to the brand of
stationery this road warrior most often used for writing songs and
other communications over the last two years as her career
exploded. The title track speaks, with some regret, of a love
that was sidelined due to the commitment to that career. "I write
mostly on hotel paper/knowing that my thoughts will never leave this
room/I'd be out of line telling you 'leave her'/so I lie lonely
surrounded by you/by you." Other tracks, such as "Desperately,"
"Where Are You Now?" and even the acerbic hit "Are You Happy Now?"
reference longing and loneliness and other sacrificial choices.
Such is the paradox of success in today's pop culture. Artists
gladly pursue recognition, yet gained fame leads to decreased privacy,
less personal attachments, and increased isolation. A "tragic"
celebrity figure emerges for which the rest of the world usually feels
very little sympathy. Songwriters still use it as inspiration,
though, especially on a follow-up to a successful debut. In the
immortal words of Branch mentor Sheryl Crow, "If it makes you
happy/then why the hell are you so sad?"
To her credit, Branch does not succumb to a tragic view of her
whirlwind success. Lyric writing may be enough of an outlet for
any downsides to make the upsides far more enjoyable. This young
woman is living out a dream and she has not forgotten that aspect, even
when she is holed up in a hotel room with no family, friends, or
freedom.
She states, "When I have free time I can only go out with the band and
try to have fun. I do miss my friends, though, so once in a while
I will bring them on the road. But," she adds without hesitation,
"I wouldn't ever trade being where I am now."
A very good thing, since a glum spirit might tarnish all that is
happening around her these days. Hotel Paper made a strong
debut at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart this summer and has
already been certified Gold. Lead single "Are You Happy Now?"
broke into the pop Top 20, and follow-up track "Breathe" should be
circulating there soon, as well. And a successful summer stint
opening for the Dixie Chicks is being followed by a headlining club
tour through the entire month of October.
Clearly, this flurry of activity did not emerge from thin air. It
rests upon the incredible foundation set by Branch's 2001 major label
debut, The Spirit Room.
That double-Platinum album features the watershed tracks "Everywhere"
and "All You Wanted" and is still selling briskly. From that
release Branch earned a significant amount of radio airplay, a
truckload of press coverage, and key support from MTV, which awarded
her a Viewer's Choice Award last year.
Amidst all the young females that have emerged over the last few years,
Branch stands out because she is viewed as an artist in her own
right. She writes and plays her own songs and favors an organic
rock sound versus the computerized dance loops used by some of her
peers. She also appears to be one of the few artists her age to
advertise a love for classic rock (Led Zeppelin and Queen T-shirts have
been spotted in photo shoots). Her ears are in tune with what is
going on today, but her heart is rooted in the music that filled her
home when growing up in Arizona.
As she notes, "My parents were not musicians, but they loved music and
I came to love their music." Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Joni
Mitchell. and Paul McCartney were among those that made an impact on
the developing Branch. The artist to make the deepest impact was
fellow Arizonian Stevie Nicks (who can be spotted with Branch in a
recent photo shoot for In Style magazine).
In Nicks and the aforementioned Crow, Branch has found elder
stateswomen that have willingly become role models and sources of
encouragement. Without concerns of losing status or relevance,
the older women have been gracious in building up the younger
artist. Nicks has made positive statements about Branch and was
photographed with her, as noted above. Crow duets on the Hotel Paper track "Love Me
Like That" in fulfillment of an offer she made to Branch when the
latter was her opening act a while back. For Branch, these women
represent the artist that she wants to be. "They have managed to
be strong and sexy, yet they take their art seriously," she says.
She has also shown admiration for an additional female superstar,
though more for her business skills than musical output. That
woman is Madonna, who as part owner of Branch's label, Maverick, is her
boss. And guess what— the boss is satisfied. "Madonna just
showed up backstage at a show unexpectedly," Branch recalls of her only
actual meeting with her. "She told me to just keep doing what I
am doing."
Classic rock has also offered Branch another icon to help her career:
Carlos Santana. Her duet with his namesake band on "The Game of
Love," from the Shaman
record, became a Top 10 hit that earned a Grammy Award. The track
became an excellent precursor to her own record, since it broadened her
potential audience. "My fans were initially males and females my
age," she recalls. "'The Game of Love' has changed that by adding
older men and women who say, 'Here is the chick who sang with Santana;
let's check her out.'"
Her parents were pivotal in other ways as well. Aside from
driving their pleading daughter to numerous gigs, she met her manager
through a family connection. Branch actually stole a golf cart
while at a resort to deliver him her demo. He liked what he
heard, and Branch gained her first exposure as an opening act for
Hanson. Things have developed quite ironically since that time.
This artist does glance back in amazement at what has transpired yet is
already thinking ahead to future records. "When I make records, I like
for at least one track to give a glimpse of what the next record will
be like," she says. "On the last record, that track was 'All You
Wanted.' On this record it is 'Empty Handed.'" "Empty
Handed" sports orchestral strings, a melismatic vocal, and a searing,
mid-tempo rock groove that is indicative of coming maturity.
For Branch, other forms of diversification do have appeal, but her main
desire is to continue as an artist, making many "next records."
"I plan to keep writing and would like to write for others and get more
behind the scenes and sign bands," she says. "But I don't plan to
do much other stuff right now since I have far to go as a
musician. To keep going as a musician it just matters if people
will listen."
The final statement to encapsulate the hopeful vision of Michelle Branch is, "I want to make
records until I am dead."
