From writing her own music at the age of 12 to performing on festival small stages, singer-songwriter Megan Lara Mae is well on her way to musical success with the release of her single ‘Caribou’ from her upcoming EP, on the horizon. Studying for her dissertation in a lesser known minimalistic cafe in central Brighton, Megan discussed the EP, her faith and following her passion.
Megan’s musical desire kicked off with a start in musical theatre production where she could incorporate an underlying passion for drama with her music, “I played a frog in a musical called Frog Swim Party...yeah let’s not talk anymore about that.” She laughs as she progresses on to where she developed her individual style. This was rooted in a church background where she sang in a choir and had also received classical training in piano and vocals.
Yet one defining moment that catapulted her into the creative singer-songwriter music scene was at a karaoke night on holiday in Corfu, where she saw an Amy Winehouse tribute act in one of the local nightclubs. This woman who, like Megan, was from the Midlands asked her if songwriting was something she did. “It kind of put a thought in my mind that I could put the two together [vocals and piano] and write some stuff. The first few songs were awful! They were very cheesy.”
There’s still an element of theatre influencing her current live performances, Megan describes it as acting the song to remain authentic every time it‘s performed. She draws on an example of being in love, as it’s something you can’t act so you have to give a gripping, authentic performance.
Writing and producing music comes so naturally to her fingertips, she is often scrawling newly-found lyrics in the most random of places particularly inspired whilst on strolls along Brighton seafront. Megan takes most of her dynamic vocals and range from influences by newcomers such as BBC Sound of 2018 artist Sigrid to old timers such as Elton John who infuses the traditional simplicity of man and piano.
One of Megan’s biggest influences have been Kate Bush particularly her writing style, “She’s very storytelling in her lyrics. Obviously, her voice is just insane like I don’t think anybody can do a Kate Bush. I love her uniqueness matched with the storytelling.” Megan delves into Kate Bush’s thought-process focusing the lead single from her 3rd album - ‘Breathing’ . This video shows Bush inside the womb as a foetus expressing a sheltered comfort from the uproar of the world around her. This peculiar yet captivating form of musical expression is the most inspiring for Megan’s work.
When writing, Megan uses her music as a cathartic mode of expression writing stories from the heart using things that she’s experienced or read about. This can be heard in her latest single, to be released tomorrow, ‘Caribou’ which started from a weekly pastime of watching Planet Earth II with friends, Megan recalls the specific scene that drew her to writing this track, “In the fifth episode, there was a scene of this caribou, so a little reindeer, being chased through ‘the Canadian tundra’ by a wolf,” She begins imitating David Attenborough. The chase scene shows a wolf running after the caribou swiftly through the expanse of land until its feeble stamina causes it to give up chasing...yet the caribou lives on continuing to run as far as it can, feeling a sense of freedom from all that’s trying to get it down. Mae turned this into a metaphor for not giving up on where you are and where you’re trying to get to.
Many fans may not know that Megan is a practicing Christian too. This is a part of her character that has significantly impacted her music in the most intricate and implicit ways. Whilst it doesn’t show through in her lyrics, it can’t be ignored as it’s her life and forms the basis of everything she does. There was one defining moment in her career where she really had to rely on her faith to help her manage the situation. She’d just come out of a management experience which resulted in the loss of a considerable amount of money. That same week Megan’s friend invited her along to church to which she only tagged along because it would’ve made her friend happy and she was going through a rough time, with the management flaw. Her experiences at this service were life-changing bringing her to where she is today, “It felt like someone had been stalking me because the preach was just so on point.” After that, she just felt at peace with the entire situation. It seems like the underlying ‘Caribou’ theme perseveres through both her faith and her music as she develops into an artist leaving behind the education system and stepping into her own freedom.
Photo by Hannah Rothwell
Comments