Michelle Branch on Why Her New Album, Hopeless Romantic, Took 10 Years—and Going Rogue—To Get Made

Coming out on the other side, I feel like I would do things differently. The biggest lesson I've learned through the process is to always bet on yourself. There are so many people—especially in the music business—who are coming and going, and you're the only one who's going to look out for you. If you wouldn't bet on yourself then how do you expect anyone else to?

At the beginning of July, I finally signed with Verve [Branch's current label] officially. I went into the studio with my now-boyfriend, Patrick Carney [of The Black Keys] with a budget to do three songs. They didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket. I was told those songs didn’t sound like me and I needed another producer. The wind was completely knocked out of my sails. I was just like, "Here we go again. Here I am again. We're going to be in the same spot."

Patrick, [producer] Gus Seyffert, and I were all in the studio and so upset because we were really excited about what we were working on. That's when Patrick pulled a powwow and was like, "You know what? I believe in this, and emotionally you need to move on with your life. You have to finish this album.” Once we agreed that we were all in this together, he said, "Great. I'm going to finance the record. The worst thing that can happen is, if at the end of the day they don't like it, then they'll drop you but you'll own the album. Let's make it ourselves."

So, the three of us decided to go rogue. But the craziest thing is, by the end of recording, a new president [Danny Bennett] was hired, and everyone was beyond thrilled about the album. Danny flew to Nashville and said, "I love this album. Do not change a thing. Let's do this."

Had I listened to the previous advice and worked with whoever they had in mind production-wise, this record might not have happened. I have no idea how it would've affected everything. It was the first time in years that I bet on myself and decided to just go for it. It still kind of feels like it's not going to happen, just because I'm so used to it going wrong. I think the day of album release, when actual fans have the album in their hands and start to know these songs, then it will start to feel real. God, I can't wait until they know the words to these songs. I'll just breathe a sigh of relief the album comes out. I'll finally be able to sleep.