Most Likely to Succeed: Ingrid Michaelson

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THOSE UNKNOWN SONGWRITERS out there who are dismayed at the scant number of plays on their MySpace pages, don't despair: Take inspiration from Ingrid Michaelson. The New York indie-popster has gone from nobody to notable within less than a year, after a licensing company discovered ... her MySpace page.

In November, the company got her songs in the hands of music directors for television's "Grey's Anatomy" and, as with much of what ends up on "Grey's," that was all it took.

By season's end, four of Michaelson's songs had been featured on the show, and digital purchasing of her second album, "Girls and Boys," skyrocketed.

Then Old Navy came calling, pushing the record's sales into the Billboard charts where, earlier this month, she was the only unsigned artist.

"I've tried to go slowly with this, and not shoot myself out into the industry. A lot of people haven't even heard my music; they just know there was a song on 'Grey's Anatomy,' so they know there is exposure and people like it," Michaelson said. "They just kind of pounce. I see through that pretty easily now."

She's in no rush to land on a label.

"It gives me a cushion of support," Michaelson said. "Without anybody, I can put my stuff up online and sell it."

And sold it has, thanks mostly to the faithful television-watching public who got "Breakable" and "Keep Breathing" stuck in their heads after episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" or find themselves whistling "The Way I Am" ("If you are chilly ...") long after the commercial break has ended.

But critics, too, have heaped high praise on "Girls and Boys" for its collection of comfortable, lo-fi tunes. Both contemplative and catchy, the album is sure to appeal to any indie-rock fans who don't suffer from "Grey's Anatomy" Snobbery Syndrome.

For once, it seems, popular pop music seems to have gotten it right.

"I don't want to be known as the Old Navy sweater girl. I don't want to be pigeonholed," Michaelson said. "I'm confident that somebody who likes the first song of mine they hear will like the rest of the album."

And, the one after that, which is "ready to go," she says, but slated for release next year. Using a mix of new and older songs — "some I just wrote a few days ago" — she's just embarked on the recording process, though she hasn't "found the right partner" among the major-label suitors that have come calling.

"If I'm going to be producing it and putting it out myself, I need to be a little more successful, because that costs a lot of money," Michaelson said. "I'm confident in my music."

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Photos by Deborah Lopez