Singer/songwriter Meg Myers released her sophomore album, Take Me To The Disco, on July 23. The album provides a deeply personal account of her life experiences, including as a woman in the music industry on "Numb."
The indie-rocker has really come into her own on the new album, which was put out by independent record label 300 Entertainment. It is raw and dark, her voice haunting on each track, leaving you feeling that this sound is authentically her.
We caught up with Myers to learn more about the new album, the stunning video for "Numb," how her music helps her relate to her fans, and more.
Take Me To The Disco seems to represent a lot of growth and change for you. Now that the album is finally out, I'm wondering how you feel about it? Is there any track in particular that you're gravitating toward at the moment?
I feel really relieved that it's out, and I think that I gravitate mostly to "Jealous Sea." That's a really hard question. It's a good question, but it's hard, because I feel like they're all my babies. But I'm really connected to that song personally. It was one of the first songs written for the album, and started off with me writing it alone, so I think that's a part of my connection to that one. "Tourniquet" is also a really special one for me.
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I read that the album took you to a much deeper place. Music can be its own kind of form of therapy, but then there's another side of that – once the music is out there in the world, it's like you have to keep coming back to those deeper, sometimes darker, places. I'm wondering how you manage that feeling
I don't. [laughs] I haven't figured that out quite yet [more laughs].
I think I can do it if I've slept, I've eaten right, everything. I can do it – you go out there, and you just connect to this energy, and not necessarily to the pain of when you wrote the song. I think when you start getting a little run down, that's when you start connecting to your pain of when you wrote the song, and I think that's when it feels like a little bit of a downward spiral.
So I think it's just really about balance. Those are good shows, too, though – the ones where you're just in total agony, because it's good for other people, but I think I'm still working on that.
You've said in the past that you really want your music to make people unafraid to feel, which comes through in your work. What kind of feedback have you gotten from fans or listeners?
Mainly that it's relatable, and that it feels like I'm a voice for people who have felt depressed, or all of these feelings and felt like they couldn't express themselves. That feels really good. It's heavy. I have a lot of heavy fans, but I'm also a heavy person, so to be able to be that voice is a really great feeling for me.
Earlier you mention balance and getting rest. What are some of your go-to activities to stay grounded and also to have fun?
My go-to activity is running. I like running outside, as well as hiking. Nature is huge for me, anything in nature really helps me. Exercise, anything physical, helps me get out of my head. I wish that I meditated more, because I have in the past, and it really helped me. It helped me majorly on a couple tours. I need to get back into it; I have a tour coming up.
I like running, hiking, and just chilling [laughs]. Games are fun, too. I love board games. Chess is a good one. Anything to get out of my head.
Let's talk a little bit about "Numb," particularly the music video. It's incredibly striking. What was the thought process behind the visuals?
Originally, I wrote it about my label at the time. I was on Atlantic, and I was feeling quite a bit of pressure from them to write a single, which is not unusual. It's a thing, you know, you need to write a radio single, so that was what I was going for, but it just got to be too much, and I ended up writing that about them and the pressures that I was feeling at that time.
When I turned it into a music video – Clara Aranovich is the director for that, and she came up with that concept, and it really resonated for me, because it took on a broader meaning, which I think is relatable for everyone. Just the pressures of life, and feeling like you kind of have to just suck things up and just get through it. Just kind of how f***ed up that is, you know?
In the music video it was also expressed from being a woman, and I've been through a lot, you know, being in the industry, but just being on planet Earth, too. It was nice to do that in a way that everyone can understand, men and women, instead of being like, "You men!" You know we're all going through stuff, and we all have our own personal story, so just kind of expressing that. She helped me really dig in to that whole area of my life.
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I know that the album hasn't been out terribly long, but what's next for you musically?
Let's see. I don't know, I never know. I didn't know when I did this, and I don't know now. I just kind of go with it, and see who I come across, and see what works, and how I'm feeling in the moment. But I still feel like I have a lot that I want to do.
Somebody asked me recently, "How does it feel?" I feel like I have more that I want to do now. I think that's kind of always how it is. That being said, I'm really proud of everything that I've done. Maybe I'll start doing world music or something soon. We'll see.
