Sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter Meg Beth will launch her debut EP album, Take Me Away, in Toowoomba in October. The year 11 high school student, who regularly plays covers and originals from behind her piano or guitar at local cafes and events, won two major songwriting prizes earlier this year.
She was awarded a coveted spot in the South-East Queensland Big Sky Girls Songwriting Mentorship Program and was named the overall winner of the national USQ Get Songwriting Prize. She said her early inspiration for writing songs came from the struggles she faced at school. “I’ve been writing original songs since I was 10 and I recorded my first song in my uncle’s studio in Brisbane when I was 13,” she said.
“I’ve moved schools a lot. Altogether, I’ve been to seven schools: three primary schools and four high schools. The hardest move was in year 7, when I moved from my small country town primary school to an all-girls school in Toowoomba. It was really difficult because it was so different and new, and also because I was starting my terrible teenage years and I wasn’t fitting in very well at school. Writing songs really helped me through this because it gave me a way to express what I was feeling. That was the year I properly started writing songs and decided that I wanted to be a singer-songwriter,” she said.
Meg Beth’s blend of indie pop is influenced by artists such as John Mayer, Tori Kelly, Taylor Swift and Shawn Mendes. Take Me Away, is a fusion of brooding piano-based music with lyrics about dealing with life, love and loss. “I struggle to talk about how I feel, so I put everything I want to say in real life into my songs,” she said. “My long-term career goal is to share my music with people all over the world and to be an inspiration to people.”
Take Me Away will be available on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play and through her website, as well as on CD.
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