Ingrid Michaelson

Ingrid Ellen Michaelson is an American singer-songwriter best known for her 2006 single "The Way I Am" and her 2014 single "Girls Chase Boys." Both tracks achieved success on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts and earned platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Over the course of her career, Michaelson has released independent albums, expanded into television scoring, and composed music for Broadway theater.

Michaelson was born on December 8, 1979, in New York City to Carl Michaelson, a copyright manager and composer, and Elizabeth Egbert, a sculptor. She began playing piano at age four and trained at Manhattan's Third Street Music School and the Dorothy Delson Kuhn Music Institute. She performed with Staten Island Kids On Stage as a child and worked with vocal coach Elizabeth McCullough through high school. Michaelson later graduated from Staten Island Technical High School and earned a degree in theater from Binghamton University, where she participated in music and comedy groups.

While busking in Lower Manhattan, Michaelson self-released her debut album, Slow the Rain, in 2005. She independently released her second album, Girls and Boys, in 2006 on Myspace, where a music producer from the television drama Grey's Anatomy discovered her music. To maintain her rights as an independent artist, she partnered with Original Signal Recordings for distribution and re-released the album in 2007, reaching No. 63 on the Billboard charts. "The Way I Am" was featured in an Old Navy commercial, gaining wide media exposure, and Michaelson launched her annual Holiday Hop Christmas concert in New York City.

Michaelson released the compilation album Be OK in 2008 to support cancer research, followed by "Winter Song," a collaboration with Sara Bareilles performed for President Barack Obama at the 2010 National Christmas Tree Lighting. Her 2009 album Everybody debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard charts. In 2010, she co-wrote "Parachute" for Cheryl Cole and later released her own version. Her fifth album, Human Again (2012), debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard chart, leading to an extensive promotional tour.

In 2014, Michaelson released Lights Out, led by the single "Girls Chase Boys," which reached No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100. She followed with the album It Doesn't Have to Make Sense in 2016 and the EP Alter Egos in 2017. That same year, she made her Broadway debut playing Sonya Rostova in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and contributed songs to the soundtrack for the film The Space Between Us.

Michaelson made her film debut in the 2018 comedy Humor Me. She released the holiday album Ingrid Michaelson's Songs for the Season in 2018 and the Stranger Things-inspired album Stranger Songs in 2019. In 2020, she received an Emmy Award nomination for writing "Build it Up" for Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere, and she later created music for Tiny Beautiful Things and Slumberkins. Michaelson also wrote the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of The Notebook, which premiered on Broadway in 2024, earning a Grammy nomination for its cast recording. In 2024, she appeared in Girls5eva and released her album For the Dreamers.