All Those Places
When Not A Love Song
went viral in 2017, Megan Bülow was still in high school. I don’t remember the moment particularly, but it makes sense looking back—a teenager writing an actual song about actual feelings instead of chasing the algorithm.
She grew up all over the place. Eight years in Germany with most of that in Berlin and Hamburg, six in England, two in Texas, two in the Netherlands, now Toronto. Started busking on London streets when she was eleven. That kind of childhood either destroys you or it teaches you that everything is temporary except whatever you can hold onto. For her, it’s the music.
Her lyrics are specific because they’re personal. You & Jennifer
is her doing exactly what the title suggests. Sad and Bored
is supposedly ironic, though I don’t think she actually believes that. The newer track Sweet Little Lies
gets at something true about how imagination works. She described it as bright but dark underneath, about how fantasy can give you the most incredible feeling or become your worst enemy. That’s true. An hour spent in your head can make you feel invincible or completely destroyed, depending on which direction your head goes.
I’m not going to do the comparison thing—if you like Sigrid or Dua Lipa then you’ll like her, that’s what the industry says. But it’s mostly marketing. What matters is that she sounds like someone with a life writing songs about it. Not performing the role of a pop star. Not executing a strategy. Just playing music she wrote about things that happened to her. That’s rare.