We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megan Jade. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megan below.

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

As cliché as it sounds, I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. Somewhere in my dad’s garage, there are dozens of VHS tapes of me as a toddler putting on “concerts” as Britney Spears in our living room. When I was really young, my parents noticed how passionate I was about singing and started encouraging me to perform. I spent a lot of my childhood performing in church and school choirs before receiving classical voice training in high school.

Because of all this, I became really comfortable singing in front of groups at a young age, but it took much longer for me to muster up the courage to perform my original music. As a little kid, I used to make up songs and sing them into a Barbie cassette recorder, but I only ever showed my mom. All growing up, I treated songwriting as my therapy and diary, but I didn’t start professionally performing my own music until I was 18. After that, I went on to study world music and music business at UCLA and have focused on honing my craft ever since.

In general, I feel thankful for the musical journey I’ve taken so far, but there are definitely things I could have done to speed up my artistic progress. Growing up, I focused all my energy on improving my vocal technique and songwriting skills, but I didn’t spend as much time learning to play instruments. Upon learning to play both guitar and piano as an adult, I’ve majorly expanded my writing, performing, and producing capabilities. Along similar lines, I think all artists should have some basic knowledge of music production, and I noticed myself making much faster progress towards developing my sound once I learned how to produce.

As far as what skills have been most necessary for me in my career, I think the answer is super broad — as is probably the case for any recording artist in the current era. So far, songwriting, music theory, instrumental/production skills, and vocal technique have all been extremely important. Outside of music itself, I’ve needed to have networking/people skills, artistic flexibility, visual brand direction, and an extremely optimistic mindset.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Megan Jade, and I’m a pop-R&B recording artist, songwriter, and vocal producer. In the music I release, I like to combine catchy pop melodies with sonic elements of modern and throwback R&B. Lyrically, I’m inspired to write about my own life, struggles, and relationships. Like I said, I started out writing songs as a way to process my emotions, and I place a lot of importance on lyrics that are meaningful and emotionally relatable — especially to other young women.

I think I differ from your typical LA pop-R&B artist in a few key ways. First of all, I have extremely eclectic and unique musical influences. In the music industry, it’s often said that musicians start to sound like the music they’ve been listen to. After studying world music in college, I noticed myself subconsciously incorporating a wide variety of genres and diverse musical traditions into my own music.

Secondly, I bring a method of “vertical thinking” to the table that I feel is pretty unique. While composing or recording, most musicians focus most on how one musical part will progress throughout a song, but I tend to focus more on how different parts fit and sound together. I love to harmonize and stack vocals. This is a skill that I honed growing up singing in choirs, and it proves useful as an artist and as a vocal producer for other artists.

If I had to pick something I’m the most proud of, I think I would say my song “overdose.” The melody and lyrics feel really satisfying to me, and I really like the production — it combines modern, beat-driven R&B with very distinctive twinkly, metallic sound design. I think the song is a good taste of my current direction as an artist.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I first started pursuing my artist career, I really struggled to feel confident in myself and in my music-making skills. I took the idea of having to appeal to an audience far too seriously, and I felt I was contorting myself to squeeze into an artistic mold that wasn’t meant for me. I took advice from all sorts of unqualified sources, and I ended up making music I didn’t really like.

After years of this, I realized that there really is no such thing as “objectively good” music; all music is subjective, and by making music that I thought would appeal to some hypothetical audience, I was failing to appeal to the only source I have reliable access to — myself. Instead of making music I knew at least one person would like, I was basing my sound on expectations I had projected onto others.

So, I found a new producer and decided to start making music that I would want to listen to. It was only then that I started finding some success in the music industry; it turns out, I wasn’t the only person who liked the kind of music I like. I quickly signed a distribution deal with Bungalo Records/Universal Music Group and started releasing and marketing music with the help of the esteemed Paul Ring.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Music has the power to positively impact people’s lives in both big and small ways. It can help people get through major hardships, it can help make deep emotions more accessible, and it can make the mundane, boring moments of life feel fun and exciting. When people tell me they found my music and it spoke to them somehow, whether they connected with it in a deep, emotional way or they just liked the vibes, I feel extremely rewarded as an artist. I would say having this sort of an impact on the people who hear what I created is the most fulfilling part of my job.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganjademusic/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/meganjademusic/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@meganjademusic
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@meganjademusic

  https://meganjade.lnk.to/overdose

  https://meganjade.myshopify.com

Image Credits

David Miller