Fed: Missy Higgins' second album a success before it hits charts

AAP General News (Australia)
05-01-2007
Fed: Missy Higgins' second album a success before it hits charts

By Michael Gadd, National Entertainment Writer

SYDNEY, May 1 AAP - Missy Higgins admits she was wary of second album syndrome before
the release of On A Clear Night this week.

But the 23-year-old said she already felt relieved by the response from her fans to
her latest effort.

The album was certified platinum - 70,000 sales - before it hit stores yesterday and
became the most ordered album released in the history of internet music retailer iTunes
in Australia.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles after Higgins secluded herself in Broome, Western
Australia, for six months.

It is expected to knock Silverchair's double platinum status release Young Modern,
which has been out for a month, off the top of the ARIA Album Charts when it debuts next
week.

The album follows the release of yet another number one lead single for Higgins with
the track Steer.

"In a way I'm relieved people seem to be liking it," she said.

Higgins will find out first hand what her fans think of the new material when she starts
a national tour in Parramatta, in western Sydney, tomorrow night.

That sold-out show at the Roxy Theatre will be followed by four capacity crowd Enmore
Theatre shows in Sydney before more sold-out gigs in Newcastle, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

"I'm always a cynic when it comes to these things so I never get my hopes up," Higgins
said of the album.

It's a tough task for Higgins to not expect big things from her 11-track sophomore
effort after her debut album The Sound of White sold more than 650,000 copies.

"I just understand the reality of the follow-up album. It's very rare for one to do
as well as it did the first time around," she said.

While Higgins said she didn't give too much stock to industry distinctions, she and
manager John Watson did crack open a bottle of champagne when Steer hit the top of the
singles charts a fortnight ago.

"I was at my manager's place when he got a call about it (from EMI managing director
John O'Donnell) ... I think it was a bit of a set-up, I didn't even know it was the day
the charts come out," she said.

"It's always good to have an excuse to pop a bottle of champagne."

The song has since slumped, by Higgins' standards anyway, to number five in its second week.

AAP mdg/srp/cdh

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