SONG OF THE DAY – “STEER” by Missy Higgins

November 14, 2013

Throwback Thursday – Originally posted as my daughter’s Song of the Day on 01/09/2011.

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I love this idea of posting an older song on Throwback Thursday. I am a little OCD and I have kept an Excel spreadsheet of all the songs I have ever posted over the last 4 years on my daughter’s page, and a separate spreadsheet for my friend’s 3-year list. As you can probably guess, I have now started my third spreadsheet!

So in preparation for my post today, I have been re-listening to lots of music to find just the right song. Needless to say, I have been singing and dancing around my kitchen a lot the last few days. My 15 year-old son cautioned me to “stay out from in front of the windows” while I was dancing last night. Sometimes I forget that we moms can totally embarrass our children, especially a teenage boy! Woops! (Shhh … I have to let you in on a little secret. My son is awesome! He usually joins me in my kitchen dance parties.)

I chose Missy Higgins today because I really love her music. She is fresh and passionate. Her ballads are just impossible to get out of my head. My niece turned me on to Missy Higgins while she was an undergraduate student. I had just shared some music with her that I thought she would like, and she sent me back a note asking me if I had heard of Missy Higgins. I immediately listened to her and fell in love with her music. Thanks, Abby!

Missy has a very interesting story. She was hugely successful in the mid to late 2000s. She then got burned out and walked away from music. It is really a cautionary tell for all of us. What she said about that time was really impactful. On her website it says,

“You get the amount of success you dream of and it doesn’t bring the happiness you thought it would,” Missy says. “You have an existential crisis – how do I become happy? If this doesn’t give you fulfilment what does? And when it’s caused by something you’ve always attached as being your identity, what do you do? I’ve always been the singer or the musician or the songwriter. And when I quit music that was terrifying. Who am I? It was scary but it was also important to find out.” Read more here. 

After a three year break, Missy came back and is making amazing music once again. Taking time to slow down, breathe, live in the moment, and discover who we are as a person and, more importantly, what makes us happy is really the goal. Difficult to do, but so important. I really enjoyed the honest account that Missy gave of her journey.

If you are going to click on the iTunes link above, also check out some of her other great songs. A few recommendations: 1. Set Me on Fire, 2. Warm Whispers, and 3. Where I Stood