There There

There There is Megan Washington's second album.

The 14 songs on the album are inspired by lush new-romantic '80s pop and might be as infectious as ever, but lyrically stick to the truth. As Megan explains, every song is a real story, and every lyric is about someone real. "In my mind, every single one of these songs has a name in brackets afterwards," she says. "The people in the songs know who they are. I certainly do." If 'I Believe You Liar' was the diary of a wide-eyed youth dizzy with romance, 'There There' is the chronicle of a woman discovering the moral complexities of love - with hooks to spare.

After touring 'I Believe You Liar', starring in a film (Michael Kantor's The Boy Castaways) and a stint in New York, Megan found herself in London. One day, by chance, she ran into songwriter/bassist/producer Sam Dixon (Sia, Adele), who she'd met when supporting Sia on tour. For kicks, the two co-wrote a song, and immediately felt something special was there. After returning to London in 2013, Megan and Sam got to work.

"I wrote all the songs I was afraid to write," she says. "I wrote about living with anxiety, bad sex, being unfaithful, how much I loved the person I was unfaithful to, waking up in hospital, the heart-cracking sadness at the end of a party, being reckless and selfish and losing my best friend. I told the truth, as best I remember."

In an equally candid revelation, Megan also recently went public with one of her inner-most secrets when she was asked to sing at a TEDx talk at the Sydney Opera House. She decided it was time to reveal something that has affected her since she was five years old. In a brave and difficult speech that brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience, she talked about living life with a debilitating stutter.

"I've never really talked about it before. I used to try and be all the things that I want to be whilst suppressing it or trying to disguise it," she told the crowd. "But now I think I'd like to be whatever I am, despite it."