From reality TV to The X Factor to country music, Megan McKenna has had a wild ride, and it's only just started. We had a fantastic interview - check out Part 1 here first and read on for her thoughts on upcoming music, TikTok, preconceived notions and more - enjoy!
Ciara's Country (CC): We're chatting at the 10th anniversary of C2C Country 2 Country. How are you feeling about being here?
Megan McKenna (MM): I am so happy to be here. This is my first time at C2C, and I've wanted to do C2C forever. I feel very honoured that I'm here for the 10th anniversary. It's amazing.
CC: How did you get the call that you were going to be performing this year?
MM: My manager called me and she told me, ‘Can you believe you're doing C2C?’ She was like, ‘I knew we'd be here’. It took us a long time, years of gigging and releasing and everything to get to this point to be here.
CC: Indeed, you've done so much in the past year, releasing a new song every week for six months! How do you even manage that?
MM: I don't know! It was literally just words were coming out of my mouth when I was writing songs. I didn't go out for six months! I was in the studio at home, that’s all. But that's what makes me happy, so I like it and I’ll do it all again. Six months is a lot of work (laughs). But now I'm focusing on my album.
CC: Due to be released this year, right? Tell us what we can expect.
MM: Well, I don't even know what it's going to be called yet! I want it to be so special. Releasing the songs over those six months and seeing what people like, I’ve been able to suss out which ones might work for the album, you know, faster ones, slower ones.
CC: Did you use TikTok to get fans' opinions on the songs they wanted to see?
MM: Yeah! It's been an eye-opener. A few songs that I thought would do well did really well; but then some of the ones I thought would be really well didn't. It's good seeing that though because I want to give everyone what they want.
CC: Which reaction to a song surprised you the most?
MM: Baby Talk. It's one of my favourite songs and people really hooked onto it. That was surprising because I really did go down the country roots for that and it turned out exactly how I wanted it.
CC: Yes, more country roots please!
MM: You’ll definitely be seeing more of that on the album – hoedowns and all that. I want to do a line dancing music video too, so hold tight.
CC: I can’t wait! It’s been a pleasure to see your growth as an up-and-coming artist in country music over the past few years, and I’d love to find out what new artists you’re listening to. Are there any underrated artists out there you think everyone needs to be listening to?
MM: I listen to the same stuff all the time! Kacey Musgraves, Lady A, Zac Brown Band. I love Shania Twain too.
CC: We’ll pretend we had this interview decades ago when no one knew who those artists are.
MM: That would be great (laughs) There’s someone on TikTok that’s really cool actually - Will Cullen. He goes up to people and randomly just starts playing a country song and sings to them, like they could be sunbathing on the beach and he’d start singing to them. It’s so cool.
CC: I want that to happen to me!
MM: Me too!
CC: Okay Megan, my final question for you is what is one question that you've never been asked in an interview, but would love to be?
MM: I suppose people don't really ask me how it feels when people have a preconception of me before listening to my music. You know, like ‘I didn’t know she could sing country’ or something like that.
CC: How does it feel?
MM: We did speak about it a bit earlier, you know that people think it's easy for me because they’ve seen me on the telly already, but what people don't realise is that I work triple hard. When people see me as doing that, I think that’s when they see me as an actual true artist and singer. I’m here because of my hard work, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
CC: What goes through your mind when you see the audience finally clicking that ‘wow, she’s so much more than a reality TV star’?
MM: That's like the best feeling in the world. And I always notice that the claps get louder towards the end of my set! It feels so good, because I know people are like, ‘oh, she can sing?’ It's a great feeling to see them enjoy the music and enjoy seeing me on stage.
CC: Well I’ve definitely enjoyed chatting with you today. Thank you so much Megan!
Thanks so much for reading! Check out the rest of my C2C related content on my blog, and stay tuned on @CiarasCountry for even more music content coming soon!
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