Netflix's ‘Stranger Things’ inspired Ingrid Michaelson’s ‘Stranger Songs’
“Stranger Things made me feel like I was little again,” says Michaelson, 39. “For me, it was specifically the very ‘nostalgic-ness’ of the show. There was a comfort in that.”
By TNSINGRID MICHAELSON performs at the 2019 Women’s March in Los Angeles in January(photo credit: AMANDA EDWARDS/GETTY IMAGES FOR WOMEN’S MARCH LOS ANGELES/TNS)
The hit Netflix series Stranger Things has captured the imagination of viewers, among them Ingrid Michaelson, whose new album, Stranger Songs, was inspired by the show.The singer-songwriter was instantly drawn to the look and feel of the sci-fi drama, which debuted in 2016 and is now in its third season. It’s a period piece that begins in 1983 in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. The show is packed with retro props that re-create a pre-Internet era of rotary dial telephones, tube socks, banana-seat bikes, boom boxes and Dungeons & Dragons.“Stranger Things made me feel like I was little again,” says Michaelson, 39. “For me, it was specifically the very ‘nostalgic-ness’ of the show. There was a comfort in that.”Stranger Songs (Cabin 24 Records) is a smart and emotionally resonant addition to Michaelson’s body of work, which includes a string of well-received releases. Although the new album is independent of the Netflix series, it easily serves as an unofficial soundtrack that maps the emotional arcs of the show’s main characters. The project first took root in 2017 when Michaelson was moved to write a poem about a central moment in the show.“There’s a scene where one of the characters is trying to communicate with her son,” she explains. “The son is in another realm and the mother speaks to him through electricity – specifically through Christmas lights.”The scene features the actress Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, a heartbroken mom desperate to find her young son Will (Noah Schnapp), who has gone missing in another dimension called “the Upside Down.” Joyce discovers that she can make contact with her lost son through strands of blinking holiday bulbs strung across an alphabet painted on the living room wall.“That was a beautiful storyline,” Michaelson recalls. “I started out writing a poem about that scene, but it turned out to be more about me. The holidays made me think about the people who aren’t with me anymore. I’ve lost both of my parents. I thought to myself, if I’m writing poems about this show, there’s something there.”The dance number “Missing You” is a nod toward the show’s classic love triangle involving the characters Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. It’s a number about being with one person while dreaming of another. Michaelson sings: “He’s got his hands in all the right places / But the wrong face is in front of me.”Like the Netflix series, the numbers on Stranger Songs champion the underdogs and outsiders in life. “Freak Show” turns the ugly taunt of a schoolyard bully into a term of pride.The last song on Stranger Songs is the rueful ballad “Take Me Home.” It’s a song that serves as both a statement of purpose and a wistful yearning for the people and places of the past. Michaelson sings: “Oh, it breaks my heart to know / I can’t go back in time / And feel those feelings for forever.”“I truly feel that on so many levels,” she says. “That’s why Stranger Things resonates with me. It transports me back, even if just for a moment.”
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