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Released from her label, Meg Myers gets a second act with ‘Numb’
Nearly finished with her second album, “Take Me to the Disco,” Meg Myers received bad news from her label, Atlantic Records. Atlantic had dropped her. Myers, who can write sharp pop hooks and scream lyrics like a '90s indie rock titan, already had a response in the works.
She had felt out of place at Atlantic and so had written “Numb,” a brooding rock track with huge crescendos, about her experience. With lines such as “I'm in your custody/But I'm not a criminal/I can be your next big thing” and “You think you want the best for me but nothing really matters/If you force it, it won't come.”
“Numb” took a smart, angry swing at the music industry's constant demand for hits.
“I wrote it when I was still on Atlantic, and it was a moment in time when I was really frustrated and trying so hard to make my label happy but felt like I was failing,” Myers said ahead of her Tuesday show at the Sinclair. “I am in a better place right now, and I thank them so much for giving me the freedom to do what I wanted to do and for letting this record go to another label and be released to the world.”
Often labels will shelve artists' finished works — not releasing them and not letting artists take them to a new label. Myers had some good fortune in getting out with her new music. 300 Entertainment released “Take Me to the Disco” in July. “Numb,” a tight pop tune about the industry's hunger for tight pop tunes, has become one of her bestknown songs. “I feel so lucky in the end,” she said of the song's success. “I stayed true to myself and am doing what I love and made a record I am so proud of.”
Myers, a Tennessee native and Los Angeles resident, broke with debut record “Sorry” in 2015. The album spun out a few minor hits and cultivated a small-butdevoted fan base. With the new LP, Myers looked to expanded her sound as much as her fan base. “Take Me to the Disco” pushes the loud-quiet dynamics. In moments, Myers' voice overpowers the songs with punk rock rage. At other times, she sits back and almost whispers over pulsing electro production.
“I love `Sorry' as an album, but I feel like I have grown so much as an artist and a person, so I wanted the new album to reflect that growth,” she said. “I don't want to minimize what we accomplished with `Sorry,' but I wanted the new album to feel bigger, more diverse, but also carry the emotional weight of the first album. I feel like `Take Me to the Disco' is more me, sonically and vocally.”
Myers knows listeners are smitten with “Numb.” And she's thrilled about that. But she wants fans to absorb “Take Me to the Disco” as a complete work.
“I remember calling my manager and saying we have our first single after we wrote `Numb,'” she said. “That was the first time I ever did that. But there are so many layers on this record. I hope people go deep into it and explore it all.”