Missy Higgins has pulled inspiration from Deborah Mailman’s character in the TV show, Total Control to create her most empowering album yet.
We spoke with Missy about how her songwriting has changed as she’s grown as an artist and gained more perspective.
HAPPY: Let’s chat about your new album. So like so many others, I’ve been a fan of your work for my entire life, which is just crazy.
MISSY: Oh, thank you. Thank you.
HAPPY: It’s a pretty unusual and very cool thing. And what an incredible journey to watch. I feel like a lot of your earlier work touched on so many things that are so relatable, especially as you’re growing up, things like falling in love and finding yourself and all of that but as time has gone on, it’s really cool to see how you, more recently, talk about a much heavier subject matter and things that kind of go beyond the individual. Would you say that that’s part of just growing up as a songwriter?
MISSY: I think so, yeah. I mean, I think when you are younger, it’s that inward-focused stuff that’s more important to you and definitely, your love life is like the number one focus. And because you’re usually going in and out of relationships and feeling everything so strongly and probably for the first time, yeah, it’s all great material to write for. But I think as I’ve gotten older, that’s become a bit less interesting to me, I think, and when you meet someone and get into a stable relationship as well, you know, it doesn’t become very interesting.
The things that people write about are the beginning and the end of the relationship. So if you’re in the middle, there’s not much to write about. But I think also when you get older, your view expands a lot and your gaze kind of comes up from your navel a bit and you start to see the world around you and care maybe a little bit more about others than you do yourself. I think I’ve become a bit boring to myself after so many years that, you know, you start to realise that most people in the world have much bigger problems than yours. So, yeah, that’s what ends up making it into my songs, I think.
HAPPY: (Laughs) Yeah, I gotcha. But it’s funny that you say that. When you’re in a good, stable relationship and things are healthy. It’s boring to write about.
MISSY: Yeah, I think so. And then when you’ve got kids, it’s like… well, you don’t have time to think about yourself. I can’t focus on my… parenting is really hard, but you don’t have time to stop and really think about it or stress about it. You just got to go. Every second of every day is like, ‘Okay, what do I need to do next?’ Every minute is crammed with logistics and trying to keep these little humans alive. So there’s not much time for ruminating on how you’re doing emotionally in a way.
HAPPY: Of course. I imagine that having kids would also add to the broadening perspective of thinking about others.
MISSY: Yeah, yeah, definitely. That’s true. Once I had my first kid, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m much more raw and open to everything going on around me now.’ And empathy is really turned up a massive notch, which is kind of painful. Especially when you’ve got babies, your empathy is like out of control. I couldn’t even watch ads on TV. I was like, ‘This is all too much.’ But yeah, it definitely helps to see the world around you rather than be too obsessed with what’s going on inside your head.
HAPPY: Yeah, totally. So, your music has always, no matter what the subject, it’s always been able to tell such beautiful stories and tell them so well. Can you tell me a little bit about the stories or overall story that you are telling in the new album, Total Control?
MISSY: Well, I mean, the new album was inspired by this TV show called Total Control that I’ve been writing for the last couple of years. It’s an amazing drama with Deborah Mailman as the lead and Rachel Griffiths as the kind of supporting role. And it’s a show about this fierce woman who comes from a tough background in a very small rural community. And she’s an indigenous woman. So she spends a lot of time trying to fight for the rights of her community and her people. And she is a woman. So she’s also going up against the sexism in politics and in her workplace.
And there are just a lot of themes in the show that I felt were really relevant today, and also a woman going into parliament and standing up for what she believes in and calling out the bullshit was really mirroring what was going on as well with Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins. And at the time, that was all happening in the news, and I was really inspired by those girls standing up and telling the truth and yeah, I put all of that into the music, and I wrote songs for this character and everything she was going through and everything that she’d been through to get where she was and…
Yeah, I wrote quite small snippets for the TV show and then for this album, I took those snippets and I expanded them into full-length songs and then I recorded them myself with my band and Brendon Love from The Teskeys. And yeah, so they ended up being, I guess, inspired by the characters in the show and the themes of the show, but also really expanded to be about the world that I see going on around me.
HAPPY: I can imagine you’re not short for inspiration there in terms of the world around you.
MISSY: I think so. And also I think, a lot of it is inspired by being a mum to a daughter as well and seeing all this going on with this with all this horrible stuff that’s happening still happening to women, but also that young women are feeling courageous enough to stand up and talk about it. Even though it’s still a very hard culture to be truthful in its, it is a lot easier than it was 10 years ago.
And, you know, 40 years ago, like every decade, it seems to be getting much easier for women to be able to call out abuse when it happens to them or when they see it. So that made me feel like I want to keep fighting for that for my daughter. And it made me also really thankful that I had and have a mom who’s just very headstrong and independent, and she’s just always been a really good role model for me, and I want to try and be that for my daughter as well.
HAPPY: A good role model is so important. I think that you’re in a very cool position, to have someone like you having such a powerful message because obviously, you are a role model for your daughter, but your music also makes you somewhat of a role model for every listener. It’s very cool. It’s very empowering to listen to.
MISSY: Yeah. Oh, that’s good. Thank you.
HAPPY: You commented on Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame. Do you have any hot takes about the nonsense new cycle going on with Grace Tame at the moment?
MISSY: I think it’s all just sad and it’s a reflection of the long way that we still have to go, I guess, in order to be able to respect women and treat them like human beings and stop picking them apart and picking apart everything they say and do, and if a woman is a little bit too outspoken or a bit too aggressive, our first instinct is to pull them down if they don’t fit the mould that we think that women should fit. There’s still a lot of subconscious sexism, I think, in our society that we can still do that to someone like her who’s been through so much.
We can’t forget what she’s actually been through. You know, she’s probably still traumatised from it. So I just really feel for her, and I think that she’s amazing to keep going in the face of… I mean, she’s become a public person over the past year, and she’s been scrutinised so heavily. I think that must be really, really damaging for a person. And I just really hope that people start remembering that she’s a human being who’s been through a lot and who’s trying to do a good thing with something bad that happened to her.
HAPPY: Absolutely. I think, fortunately, it seems like… at least, maybe it’s just the bubble I’m in, but it seems like the majority of people feel the same way. They’re like, ‘Yeah, she is awesome.’
MISSY: I know, and I think sometimes it’s just bad reporting, maybe, that they’re trying to make something out of nothing which unfortunately happens a lot.
HAPPY: It sure does. So back to the album. The title track, Total Control, is a cover. A Motels cover. What’s your relationship with the song?
MISSY: To be honest, I’ve just always really liked it. I haven’t had a particularly personal relationship with it or anything, but it was a bit of a coincidence that this show was called Total Control and that they had a version of the Motels song in the show. But they asked if I would like to record my own version of it to put in the show instead of the original. And yeah, I jumped at the chance because I’ve always loved it. And yeah, so we just had a lot of fun recording it, and it seemed apt to put that recording on the album.
HAPPY: It’s all very serendipitous. The is show so fantastic and I couldn’t think of a better artist to be so involved with it. It’s really cool. So with the album, the opening track Watch Out, it’s got this almost Americana kind of vibe to it. And I don’t know if I’m crazy, but would you agree? It feels like it’s the perfect style to just kind of push that attitude and the fury behind the lyrics.
MISSY: Yeah, I think… well, the scene that they gave to me for the song was the opening scene in the first season, and it was a really kind of barren outback scene. So I thought it needed some kind of like dry as bones, almost kind of gothic country song. Very rootsy. And yeah, I thought it needed something that was that sounded a little bit of madness, someone who’s been probably living in the outback for a bit too long without any other human interaction and gone a little bit crazy with their rage.
But also, yeah, because there are a lot of like revenge themes in the show, or at least that’s the part of her character that I quite liked indulging in because it was fun. But yeah, I thought that that kind of genre of song seemed appropriate for the setting and also just a really cool almost like a cowboy cowgirl vibe of like, yeah, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder like a butcher’s knife. Don’t fuck with me.
HAPPY: It’s awesome. They are such powerful lyrics. The last song on the album has this lyric, “gave you my power, but I take it back,” and I just had to tell you it’s like chills. It made me cry. And I can imagine a lot of listeners will be crying, but it’s this crazy mix of emotional and empowered, and it’s really touching. What does it feel like to have such an effect on your listeners?
MISSY: Well, that’s the whole idea really. It feels great. I mean, you write it that way to really get into people’s hearts, and I have felt the same way. I get shivers every time I listen to the ending of that song. And it was so great having so many amazing women come into the studio and sing backing vocals on it. And when we play it live too, I just get tingles.
It feels so good to have a big kind of gospel-y, woman power sing-along at the end of the song. Yeah, that was just one of those songs that I kind of worked on it for quite a while and then it just clicked one day when I figured out how to do that ending. It’s like, ‘Yes! This takes it to a new place.’ But yeah, that’s definitely the ideal outcome when you write something like that… to move people.
HAPPY: You nailed it. Who did you bring into the studio for that one?
MISSY: Gosh. Well, Emma Donovan, who… She’s… Do you know Emma Donovan? She’s got an incredible indigenous woman with an incredible voice and a very, very big voice. So I thought it would be perfect for that song. The Mae sisters, Elsie and Maggie. I’m trying to remember because we got a few different versions of women’s female groups for each song. Ainslie Wills. Or maybe she was for the other song. It was just a great bunch of women.
HAPPY: I was very curious because I think the last couple of singles that have come out, I thought, ‘Is that Missy singing the backing vocals?’ and then listening to a whole album, I was like, ‘There are so many people! Who is everyone?’
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MISSY: Yeah. I definitely got Ainslie Wills on the other tracks and the Mae sisters and then my keyboard player Sarah Belkner and… oh, Clare Bowditch as well. That’s right. Yeah, it’s quite a while ago now, so yeah, my memory’s really bad.
HAPPY: (Laughs) That’s fine! So, you’ve got a tour coming up and as a part of that tour you’ll be playing an all-female festival, Wildflower. Super cool! Do you imagine that the vibe will be pretty different to other festivals you played?
MISSY: I think so, I’m really excited. I’m very excited to play all these new songs because they’re so perfect for an all-female tour. I’m going to get some serious singalongs happening, I think. Yeah, there’s always a different vibe when a whole lot of women get together and sing and a whole lot of us go on tour together.
I was involved in Lilith Fair in America and yeah, there’s just this kind of knowing camaraderie backstage, I think. And also a bit of an excited feeling in the air because it’s just not very common. I mean, the music industry has always been mostly guys, since I’ve started anyway. So it’s just a really, really nice change to be around that many women and be able to relate to where we’ve been, all the things that we’ve gone through together.
HAPPY: That sounds so wonderful. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
MISSY: No worries. Pleasure.
Total Control will be out on March 4 and is available to pre-order now.
See all Missy Higgins tour dates here.
Interviewed by Chloe Maddren.
Photos supplied.
