Let's talk about Megan Washington and her latest single, 'Who Are You'.
Maybe you haven't heard, but this is a track that's been "long-awaited". At least, that's the story. We've been waiting a long time. It's been painful. There have been sleepless nights. But finally. Finally. A song from Australia's number one tastemaker, the multi-platinum artist Megan Washington. Thank God.
If we're honest, that isn't the story at all. Thousands of people aren't lining up outside JB Hi-Fi waiting with the sweaty over-exertion of their unchecked eagerness, dying to get their hands on the absolute latest from this girl. This isn't One Direction. This is an artist that used to be on Triple J Unearthed. An artist that played 'Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?' on national radio.
The pre-fabricated, template-derived, insert-word-here diatribe, with ultra-marketable phrases like 'long-awaited', 'bold statement' and (my favourite) 'fearless' — it doesn’t really apply to Megan Washington.
Her debut LP, 'I Believe You Liar', did, in fact, go multi-platinum. She has sold out the Opera House. The thing is, though, that right now, right this second, Megan Washington knows who she is. Five minutes from now? She might have no idea.
"It's actually a really amazing experience to listen to music you made a couple of years ago and think, 'Fuck, I have no idea how I wrote that! I would never write that now.' I listen back to some of the earlier EPs that I put out and I think 'Who the fuck wrote this?' It makes no sense anymore."
The point isn't that Megan isn't loved as an artist. On the contrary, the point is that she is loved for the right reasons.
Part of Megan's success comes from the fact that her music isn't pigeon-holed. There is no pre-determined pattern. She doesn't stay up late at night plotting which track on an album will be the lead single. She won't campaign for a release date that coincides with increased unit sales. Sometimes that means that a record just won't sell. Unlike others, she'll still be here when that happens.
"I've always been incredibly grateful for the support that (Triple J have) shown me, but I mean, I put out 'Insomnia' and that wasn't really a radio record and they didn't play it. Actually, nobody played it. Actually, nobody bought it!
"With regards to that, there's the school of thought that is very commercial and operates under the parameters that there are cycles, that there are times when you tour and there are times when you put records out and then you do all the promo and then you don't play shows and then you do play shows and then you don't play that and then you do play that... I have a tendency to overthink most things, and planning my artistic output to be that structured is a recipe for disaster!
"Sometimes you don't have anything to write about. Sometimes you just can't make a record because you've got fuck-all to say. And then sometimes you just have to make a record because you've got a lot of things to say, and that was 'Insomnia'. I just had to make it."
According to the World Wide Web, Megan Washington is also the reason Yves Klein Blue are no longer with us. According to many keyboard warriors, she is the Yoko Ono to their Beatles. And let me ask you this: has the Internet ever lied?
"You're the first person to ask! Nobody has asked me about that."
This seems hard to believe. But, OK.
"The thing that I found amusing about all of that was that quite illogically that band had already decided to split up months before they announced it. But of course, when they announced it... you know, I thought (the Yoko Ono thing) was good! I thought it was funny.
"As if... I mean, who has ever broken up a band? Like actually, in real life? As if that even happens."
'Who Are You' is available now.
Written by James Pearson
Megan Washington Tour Dates
Thu 3 Apr - The Rev (Bris)Sat 12 Apr - Howler (Melb)
Sun 23 Mar - Lost Picnic @ Centennial Park (Syd)
