Ingrid Michaelson should be careful what she wishes for, or she’ll end up with more Justin Bieber journals. When the popular singer-songwriter treated fans to an intimate, in-store performance at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles on Saturday, a group of teenage girls presented her with a journal bearing the tween icon’s image after she joked (?) about coveting one when she walked past them in the store. These exchanges are what many have come to expect from the good-humored Michaelson at her live shows. After all, many people know her for cutesy commercial ditties like “The Way I Am,” “Be OK” and “Maybe.”
These sweet, TV- and radio-friendly tracks have snuggled into your head and heart over the past few years. These songs are charming, well written and delightful to crowds both young and old, but they belie the uncertainty and suffering which pervade many an Ingrid track. I’ve seen some folks, unfamiliar with her whole catalogue, shift on their feet when she launches into a live cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” for example. With the Jan. 24 release of her latest studio album, “Human Again,” she remains true to her niche of deeply pained yet hopeful introspection. This time, though, is different. This time, she’s all grown up.
“I kind of always feel like the little sister at the older sister’s slumber party,” said Michaelson to Billboard. “I either want to be a little older or maybe the older sister.”
Michaelson and her manager, Lynn Grossman, acknowledge that early commercial success helped launch the career of the Staten Island native. But they knew it was time, as Billboard put it, to “ditch the kitsch in an effort to showcase a bolder, more mature side.”
“She wanted to move beyond perceptions of her fitting perfectly into the singer/songwriter or the ukulele-based, perfect-music-to-sell-a-product genres,” said Grossman to Billboard. She discovered Michaelson on MySpace in 2006. “On ‘Human Again,’ the egg is cracked and she’s poking her head out into a new world.”
And so it goes that the days of her light, commercial-friendly tunes are past. I’d argue that this darker, more mature side has been there since the days of her first album “Girls and Boys,” though it has been overshadowed for years. Her newest tracks were produced by David Kahne, the producer behind the likes of Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks. 
She played a handful of these new tracks Saturday. While this show was acoustic, the album is, in a word, lush. Layers upon layers of strings dipped in a light coat of strings fill many of the songs, giving the record a rich, overflowing feel. This new style and production is particularly stunning on the album’s first single, “Ghost,” as well as “End of the World.” However, I found myself grateful for the change of pace when an orchestral stretch gave way to the traditional piano-guitar-percussion formula on tracks like “Ribbons,” one of the best, most lyrically clever (and angriest) songs on the record.
The polish of “Human Again” deviates from the trademark exposure and immediate detail that pervaded even her rock-tinged tracks in the past. She does return to her nuanced storytelling in the simple, beautiful “How We Love.”
I’m warming up to the new feel quite a bit, though I still find myself drawn to tracks in which we hear echoes of her earlier work. Tracks like “Keep Warm” show the lyrical originality and soaring melodies which first made her shine years ago. Unlike her albums years ago, there’s nothing particularly “cute” about “Human Again” — and I think that’s just how she wants it. 
“I want to put on some high heels instead of Converse,” Michaelson said to Billboard.
No matter what Michaelson releases, there are a few aspects of her work that will remain absolutely bulletproof through any reinvention of her sound. Primarily, this girl could record a reggae cover of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” and the elasticity and texture of her voice would still be angelic. Her voice deftly keeps the album grounded in the presence of some serious orchestral muscle.
Secondly, metaphors love Michaelson. She repays them by using her enviable knack to build songs around them. Again, “Ghost” is a shining example, as is “Palm of Your Hand.” Thirdly, seeing her live proves that the extent of her musical talent is rivaled only by the size of her heart. It’s no wonder that her listeners are so fervent in their support.
Now selling out venues the size Florence + the Machine sells out, Michaelson earned her first taste of fame with an Old Navy sweater ad when she was 26, subsequently having her music featured in more commercials and a variety of popular television shows like “Scrubs,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bones.” It was only a matter of time before she was opening for the Dave Matthews Band and singing at the White House.
Hers is an incredible story of success, of a talented artist taking a notable turn toward adulthood. And now, she’s free to gush about that transition in her Justin Bieber journal.
Did you miss the LA show last week? Don’t hit yourself like that — you can catch Michaelson with a full band at the Wiltern this April.
