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Missy Higgins.
 Missy
Higgins is undoubtedly one of Australia's best up and coming
young artists. Her eclectic sound has been widely sought after
as support act for bands like The Waifs, George and Bic Runga
and when we caught up she was having a few days break in Sydney
having just finished the John Butler Trio tour with the Pete
Murray tour about to commence. Not a bad start for a girl not
quite 21.
"The John Butler Tour was great!" Higgins says with delight. "There were about 18 shows, the most I've ever done in that amount of time. All the shows sold out and it was a great atmosphere." Being the support act for such a popular name can be a little daunting. "I was really happy with the response but it can vary and it depends on whether people are in the mood to hear a support act. I had my expectations quite low so I was thrilled with the outcome!" she says modestly.
Higgins was thrust in to the musical spotlight in 2001 as the
winner of Triple J's Victoria Unearthed with one of their most
requested songs All For Believing. Her single Scar
topped the national charts, despite coming after a fairly lengthy
break. "It's like a single for the album but we added a couple
of tracks and made it in to an EP instead. I really took my
time on my album because I wanted to make it as good as possible.
You only have one first album. I've been writing for it ever
since 2001."
She's clearly very pleased with 'The Sound Of White,' which is already doing some serious business around the country."It's very stripped back, organic, raw and acoustic. From the beginning I wanted it to be simple, in a story telling style. I've always focused strongly on my lyrics and wanted it to be a very vocally driven album and I have definitely achieved that."
Take a listen to the lyrics and their intensity becomes immediately apparent. "My songs seem to be fairly emotional because I always seem to write them when I'm in a really emotional state," Higgins explains. "The reason I usually write songs is because I'm finding it hard to deal with something or I need to process some thoughts, or I'm overcome by a situation that I'm in the middle of. I use it as a form of therapy. I admit that I'm young and I know that things that happen at this age are amplified and so the most trivial thing to someone who's older would mean the end of the world to me because of my age. But I also revel in the fact that I feel things very strongly and I enjoy that roller coaster."
Throughout Higgins meteoric rise to fame, she's determinded to remain true to herself and refused to let what others say affect her. "I knew the more public I became the more chance of something bad being said," she reasons. "I'm a sensitive person so I went looking for bad reviews to try and toughen myself up. I found some but it didn't work. I just felt like shit for the rest of the day! If I believed the good reviews then I'd believe the bad, so I just don't read any," she explains, with a laugh.
As to her live performances, Higgins reveals that she'd always considered that getting up on stage would be something that was merely a dream and was resigned to music just being a hobby. However, "It's just such a rush to open yourself up and pour yourself out to thousands of strangers. You know how good it feels to tell your secret to someone after you've been bottling it up inside? To sing my secrets to people I've never met before, it's unbelieveable!"
The future is certainly bright for this enthusiastic young lady. "I'm trying to not expect anything so whatever happens," she insists. "I'll just be completely grateful. I'm ecstatic about the way things have been going. I just have to keep remembering the reasons I started writing songs in the first place; because I love it and I'm doing it for myself."
Kelly Parish
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'The Sound Of White' is out now through EMI and Missy Higgins plays the Governor Hindmarsh on We d 6 and Thurs 7 Oct with Dan Kelly.
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