Single Stories: Michelle Branch, “Everywhere”

17 years ago this week, Michelle Branch released the opening track from her debut Maverick Records album as a single, resulting in a top-20 hit for the singer-songwriter.

“Everywhere,” like the rest of the songs on THE SPIRIT ROOM, is not an autobiographical song, which Branch admitted almost sheepishly in an MTV interview. “I guess I could never do ‘Behind the Music,’ because none of the songs I write are about personal experiences,” said Branch. “I mostly write love songs because I think it’s the one thing that everyone can relate to. You see it in movies, in novels… I like to keep my songs open-ended so people can listen to it and say, ‘Oh, I think it means this. I’ve been through that.’ Instead of having it be about, ‘I dumped my boyfriend. This is what the song is about.’ Then it’s, like, ‘I don’t get it. This has never happened to me. I’m not Michelle.’”

Given its success, it’s clear that the gambit to stay away from penning pop songs featuring personal anecdotes panned out for Branch: the song climbed all the way to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, and it was even more successful in other countries, climbing into the top 10 in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Ukraine.