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Only singer-songwriter Meg Washington could make an examination of capitalism into a sublimely haunting ditty.
The multiple ARIA Award winner’s latest record, Gem, is a lilting, swirling album that sees her contemplating why she continues to make music and sing, even in turbulent times. In what Washington considers to be the heart of the album, the track Natural Beauty, she soaringly sings, “When everybody’s talking about superannuation, I’m singing in the garden, I’m trying to find my soul”.
Meg Washington’s new album is an independent release on her own label.
“For me, that song is a reckoning and an interrogation between the realities of the world that we live in and yet choosing to sit at the piano and sing,” Washington says.
“Without art, without music, without dancing, without fun, without those things which make us feel, what are we doing it for? I guess this whole record is me trying to sing my way through and process the reality of being an artist inside of capitalism. I mean, I never thought I would use the word superannuation in a lyric, but 2025 is full of surprises.”
The fifth studio record for the 39-year-old musician, Gem marks her first original album as an independent artist, released on her own label Batflower Records after her previous deal ended.
“I think it came at the perfect time because I’d been doing it for so long that I didn’t really need the assistance and support to do the things that I was doing,” says Washington. “Over time I did so much growing up that I felt really ready to make my own label. What I found frustrating [on a major label] was just the realities in dealing with a corporation and what that means agility-wise. I feel a lot freer without the chains of a corporation.”
The Queensland-based performer, who began as a jazz musician, came to fame with her more singer-songwriter-based work under the moniker of Washington, picking up best female artist and breakthrough artist ARIAs for her 2010 album I Believe You Liar. After realising how un-Googleable the name Washington was, she rebranded to Megan Washington, before more recently switching to Meg Washington.
Meg Washington and film director husband Nick Waterman.Credit: Joshua Morris
“Dude, I have been on a real journey,” Washington says with a laugh. “The problem with Megan is that everybody wants to have a conversation about how to say it, how to spell it, like every time, every day, every person. So I changed it to Meg because everybody spells and says Meg the same way, now I can just move on with my life. And I’m never, ever, changing it again. Please learn this name, that’s the only name. I’m sorry for the last 20 years of indecision!”
Last month Gem picked up an ARIA nomination for best adult contemporary album – and Washington is delighted.
“Look, the nominations this year hit differently,” she says. “Gem’s my first independent record, so to have the record come out at all already felt like a success. Now to have this nomination is just icing on top, it’s amazing.”
Washington has also woven something personal into album single Kidding, her first song written with stuttering in the lyrics. Washington has had a stutter since she was a child and has spoken publicly about it in both a 2014 TEDxSydney talk and on Australian Story.
“Something that I really love about drag culture is that drag exists by saying, what if you took everything that was wrong with you and made a feature out of it,” Washington says.
“So compositionally when I was writing that song, I felt these melodies that wanted to repeat, and I thought, well, why not repeat the syllable too? Because god knows, I know how to do that. It just felt good, so I did it.”
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Washington has also made her mark as the voice of canine teacher Calypso in Bluey since it started in 2018. “At the time I didn’t know very much about kids’ shows because my first Bluey taping was the last thing I did before I went to hospital to have my son. Really that show and him are kind of the same age, which is nice.”
Right from watching the first episode she could tell the show was something special. “It’s been very inspiring to see that all of the things that make [Bluey] classic are all of the things that were at some point a question mark, like what about the Australian accent? And now little kids all over the world say dunny, it’s hilarious. We always assume that we should somehow grind off our edges to be more palatable, but it just goes to show that authenticity and integrity really do shine.”
It’s not her only on-screen venture, as between her last album of original material, 2020’s Batflowers, and Gem, Washington was kept busy co-writing and co-producing the feature film How to Make Gravy alongside her husband, director Nick Waterman.
The 2024 movie, based on the Paul Kelly song, was a “big, old lasagne of a project with a lot of layers” according to Washington. Her song Fine from the soundtrack, where it was sung in a choral rendition fronted by Brendan Maclean, won best original song at this year’s AACTA Awards and also appears in a fresh version on Gem sung by Washington and Paul Kelly.
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While Washington is happy keeping her creative spirit busy moving between projects, she’s palpably excited about her current run of dates to show off the new album.
“This is my first band show in a long time, like a few years, so I’ve been obsessing meticulously over every single detail. We’ve done one band show already, so I’ve had one test run and now I know exactly how to perfect it. The band is absolutely electrifying, so it’s going to be quite fun.”
Meg Washington performs at QPAC, Brisbane on October 25, and City Recital Hall, Sydney on November 7. For more NSW and Victorian dates check meganwashington.com
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