Rising Indie Star, meg elsier on Zodiac Signs, Intentional Simplicity, and Tornado Warnings

Fresh off her tour with Blondshell and anticipating the release of the deluxe edition of spittake, meg elsier sits down outside of a pizza joint-turned-live music venue in Washington, D.C. In about three hours it'll be her turn to take the stage once again, joining Liz Cooper and Flo Petite on a mini-tour before returning to Nashville. Effortlessly cool and happy to be performing amongst friends, the conversation with meg is warm and flows easily.

During the process of making the album, where would you go in order to focus on your songwriting?

Probably bedroom floor, lights off, post-bath type of vibe, on top of my pile of laundry. That's probably the safest, best place for sure. For sure. It's where everything's gonna happen. It needs to be the most reflective of my brain, which is the fluttered, messy ass room.

If you could describe your sound, your aesthetic, or the way you dress to someone who doesn't know you, what would you say?

I think costumey. I think I wear costumes versus clothes, and I think I like mixing really aggressive stuff with delicate or hyper femme and masc... I just, I think paradoxical things that don't necessarily should go together, but 100% they do, is the best. I just like doing that. 

I went to school and I feel like they teach you how to sound pretty, how to sing well, which is awesome honestly. But I feel like I learned how to scream or just actually express shit a few years ago. I was so focused on sounding pretty, I think. And now I just want to actually express what I'm feeling and saying. And that's not pretty all the time. 

It's so raw and authentic to yourself. You put this out into the world and then people really relate to it.

It's the best because it's scary and freaky deaky, but people relate to it that you're actually like, oh, this is a real connection. Like, oh, you get me and I actually get you. That feels nice because I think in general today and in like this industry, it's like you don't exactly know what's genuine or not. So when you make those connections and when someone connects to it, I'm like, okay, cool. 

You said you were just kind of starting to figure out how to express yourself, and that can feel really isolating. Do you feel like making this album and putting it out into the world has helped? 

Yes! You want to do something that makes people feel not alone and feel connected. To be honest, I just was so stoked that I wasn't the only one. I feel like it was the opposite. I wanted to let go of something, and then I feel like... by doing that and when people connected to it, that's when I connected with other people. It's like, oh, I'm not alone in this, fuck yeah. I feel so much better. 

How do you feel about astrology? Are you a zodiac sign person?

I know not a lot, but not a little. I know I am an Aquarius. I think Cancer rising, Virgo moon or Cancer moon, Virgo rising? I do know I have like... is it a stellium when you have three? I have four signs in Aquarius, so I'm a full three.

If you could give your album the Big Three of the Zodiac signs, what would spittake's sun, moon, and rising be?

This album's [moon] inner self is cancer. She feels a lot. But it's in. She's not like running from that. I think the rising Aquarius, because I think this album is just trying to be like, "I'm not trying to be anything else, but what this is supposed to be". I would say this [sun] probably isn't accurate, but one of my best friends who did a lot of the visuals on this is a Gemini. I'll just throw that in the mix, just because I think it's going to be crazy, but I'm going to throw her in there.

Is there a specific piece of media, outside of music, that influenced the making of this album?

Oh, fuck yeah. Banana Yoshimoto and maybe Kurt Vaughn. I like their language a lot because it says a lot and there's so much emotion in it, but it's the most simplistic language. I don't have the best vocabulary but I do feel a lot of things. And I think I can express it.. I don't have really flourishy words, but I was inspired by authors who got the point across without doing that dance, I guess. Even though that's stuff is so lovely, it's just, it was nice to be oh, I don't have to. Therefore I don't feel bad.

I feel like you can project a lot more and kind of have people feel more connected. But it's also funny because people can feel connected with incredibly specific things. Simplicity I really like, but that doesn't mean simple doesn't mean not specific.. simple doesn't mean lazy or whatever. 

It's very intentional to choose simplicity.

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

What is your album of the summer? What are you listening to right now? What are you pressing play on immediately? 

Addison Ray for sure is the bop. Everything. It makes me shake my ass, dance, I love it.. I'm really stoked about that Alex D album coming out. Like, I want to listen to that, and then Wednesday came out with a song that just feels like you're going to the lake with your girls and you have a little drink and you're in a bikini and you have a little hat and you're just hanging out. I've just been liking the easy peasy, easy listening, windows down.

The music has been all over the place because we have been driving forever. It took us two weeks to listen to Blonde again. And here's the thing, you can totally open it up on a random song, right? You will listen to the whole entire thing. I was kind of waiting, because I've been passenger princess, so I've been like, you guys can choose the music. I won't say anything, I'm not going to try and push anything, y'all are driving. So when it happened, though, today, I was like, fuck, yeah. I'm zoned out looking out the window and it's kind of it's perfect.

 

Some albums feel specific to certain seasons — maybe they feel like winter albums or summer albums. What season does your album feel like?

I don't exactly know season, but I feel like... There's a tornado warning and the sky is greenish gray. But it's kind of sunny. And there's a little bit of electricity in the air and you don't know what's happening, and it feels scary, yet, lovely and comforting. So I don't know a season, but maybe a tornado warning. Tornado season. I think something like that.

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Be sure to check out the deluxe version of meg elsier's critically acclaimed debut album, spittake, out July 25th, 2025.