After Graduation
Surprisingly, however, Michelle didn't initially intend to pursue a career in music. As an art history major and anthropology minor at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, she found herself managing the Walt Disney-Tishman Collection of African Art after graduation[1] in a somewhat frustrating role:
It was heartbreaking in some ways for me because...I had come from the Guggenheim where if somebody sneezed in the general vicinity of a painting...a conservator was there with a little Q-tip...and I was now working for a corporation...that because it wasn't necessarily making them any money, they were a little bit more trepidations in spending money on the collection...it was frustrating mostly at times to work for them because of that reason.
Music As A Career
Fortunately for her fans, after about 18-months at Disney's Imagineering arm, Michelle decided that "corporate America" wasn't for her and made the decision to reconnect with her musical roots while working as a waitress in Southern California. Indeed, it was during one of her waitressing jobs that she just happened to play a few songs on the piano while the scheduled performers were on a break, that the audience's reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that she realized that music was something that she needed to seriously pursue.
It was the most bizarre experience...everybody sat down and was quiet...I played three songs and people were asking me where my album was...
Success
Her songs have garnered attention in both film and television over the past few years. One of her songs "Stay" has been featured on "Alias" for ABC, "Wonderfalls" for Fox and the WB's "One Tree Hill" as well as in several independent film projects with Group 101. Another song, "Over You", was featured on "Smallville" for the WB network and the newly recorded "I'm There Too" played on the premier episode of Aaron Spelling's new drama "Summerland". "Summerland" also used "I Will Be Fine" later in the season and "All That I Want" featured in the premier episode of NBC's "Las Vegas". A recent showcase of the Sundance film festival introduced Michelle to many independent feature film makes some of who are using her music for upcoming projects this summer.
This past year, Michelle has been working on various other music projects in Los Angeles and the UK. "Project PI" by Al West features Michelle singing her song "Please". The album will be release in Europe by the end of this year.
Michelle is an active participant in the singer/songwriter community of Southern California, and has performed at clubs as diverse as the Whiskey A Go Go, the Hotel Cafe, Ghengis Cohen, the Joint and the Temple Bar, to name a few.
She recently recorded a select few songs with producer Evan Biegel of Seasound Studios in North Hollywood and is collaborating on an electronica album, due out early next year. New acoustic recordings are an on going project and a compilation of some of them will be released over the next few months.
Escape
Michelle Featherstone Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You've got that look within your eyes,
And it keeps reeling me in,
Reeling me in.
All I thought before,
Has come a knocking at my door,
And it's beginning again,
Every minute that we wait is just a moment that slowly slips away.
Every second that we're here's another chance to stay.
I know I should be leaving,
But this familiar feeling is in my way.
It comes so uninvited,
But I don't even fight it,
There's no way to escape,
To Escape.
I thought we'd moved beyond this,
I thought we'd taken strides,
And were ahead of the game,
Ahead of the game.
No one ever planned this,
So no one has to worry,
About taking the blame,
Taking the blame.
Every minute that we wait, is just a moment that slowly slips away.
Every second that we're here's another chance to stay.
I know I should be leaving,
But this familiar feeling is in my way.
It comes so uninvited,
But I don't even fight it,
There's no way to escape.
And we are not accountable,
And we are not responsible,
And this is not controllable.
I know I should be leaving,
But this familiar feeling is in my way.
It comes so uninvited,
But I don't even fight it,
There's no way to escape.
I know I should be leaving but this familiar feeling is in my way
It comes so uninvited but I don't even fight it
There's no way to escape.
To escape,
Escape.
To escape.
In Michelle Featherstone's song "Escape," the singer is struggling with a familiar feeling that is keeping her from leaving a situation that she knows she needs to leave. She is surprised to find herself drawn in by someone with "that look within [their] eyes," despite having thought she had moved beyond this type of situation. She acknowledges that every moment she spends waiting is a moment slipping away, but still finds herself unable to resist the pull of this feeling.
The theme of the song seems to be about the difficulty of breaking free from patterns and habits that have become ingrained and familiar. Despite acknowledging that she should be leaving, the singer ultimately feels that there is "no way to escape." This feeling could be interpreted in a few different ways - it could be a romantic attraction that she knows isn't healthy, or a broader sense of feeling stuck in a place or situation that she knows isn't good for her. Regardless, the overall message seems to be one of resignation - despite knowing what she should do, the singer feels powerless to change her situation.
Overall, the lyrics of "Escape" are somewhat ambiguous, allowing for multiple interpretations of what the familiar feeling might be or what, exactly, is keeping the singer stuck. However, the sense of frustration and helplessness that pervades the song is universal, making it an emotionally resonant piece.
Line by Line Meaning
Much to my surprise,
I didn't expect it, but something is pulling me in
You've got that look within your eyes,
There's a certain vibe in your eyes that's mesmerizing
And it keeps reeling me in,
That vibe is consistently drawing me in
All I thought before,
Everything I believed in before
Has come a knocking at my door,
Is knocking at the door of my mind
And it's beginning again,
Old feelings are coming back
Beginning again.
Starting anew
Every minute that we wait is just a moment that slowly slips away.
Time is fleeting, and we can't afford to waste any of it
Every second that we're here's another chance to stay.
Every moment we're together presents an opportunity to continue our relationship
I know I should be leaving,
I know that it's time for me to go
But this familiar feeling is in my way.
But I'm struggling because of a recurring emotion
It comes so uninvited,
This feeling arrives without warning
But I don't even fight it,
But I'm not putting up a struggle
There's no way to escape,
I can't avoid or ignore it
I thought we'd moved beyond this,
I believed that we'd overcome this challenge
I thought we'd taken strides,
I thought we had made progress
And were ahead of the game,
And we were doing better than expected
No one ever planned this,
Nobody intended for this to happen
So no one has to worry,
Therefore, nobody needs to stress out
About taking the blame,
About taking responsibility for the situation
Taking the blame.
Being held accountable
And we are not accountable,
We're not responsible
And we are not responsible,
We're not the ones who caused this situation
And this is not controllable.
This is not something we can manage or handle
To escape,
To get away from everything
Escape.
The act of getting away from something
To escape.
To flee from a particular situation or person
Contributed by Christopher I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.