I walk up to Meg Elsier after a text saying to meet her at the merch booth, where she was prepping her t-shirts for sale. She quickly looked up, smiled, and put her arms up for a hug. This was her last show on the leg opening for Blondshell in North America, and but was still full of joy.

The Blondshell and Meg Elsier pairing is perfect, since their music blends pop and rock perfectly while bringing up topics as love, female rage, and all around feelings. Elsier and I sat down outside the venue before her set to talk about music and emotions.

Sarah (TMEB): How's your day been?

Meg Elsier: It's been good. We got in, we had a kind of long drive, but we got in and the weather is so nice.

TMEB: I heard you read two books at once?

ME: Yeah, it's horrible.

TMEB: Do you still?

ME: Yeah, like I'll do a fiction book and then I'll do like love letters of someone, you know… but it does cross your wires a little bit.

TMEB: I can't do two books at once, but I could do two TV shows at once as long as one's a sitcom and the other is a drama. You know what I mean? I'm rewatching The Office and the new season of You right now.

ME: Done. Literally. I could have my phone out, something on my computer, something on the TV. Yes. And I'm absorbing all of it, but retaining none of it.

TMEB: I think it's just the ADHD brain.

ME: Literally. The neurodivergence is true.

TMEB: What was the first album you bought with your own money?

ME: It probably was at the same time as NSYNC and Britney Spears era for sure. It was the 90s.

TMEB: Do you remember what album it was or what song?

ME: I remember Britney Spears was the pink album […Hit Me Baby]. NSYNC I do think it was the marionette one [No Strings Attached]. I do not know album names apparently, but I know the visuals very well. That's the most important part. To be honest, that sticks with me. It sticks with me a lot.

TMEB: And how do you think those two albums or like artistry sort of like shaped you into the person you are today and the artist you are today?

ME: When I was younger for those two albums, they had like these VHS video things where we could follow Britney into the studio and then do a music video. So I think that was the first time I saw people do the music job for real, I guess.

TMEB: This is your last show with Blondshell. Are you celebrating somehow? Are you gonna cry after this? What's going to happen?

ME: Her fans are so cool - They come early, they're so receptive. I think like we lucked out for sure. I’m going to be devastated. The venues we're playing are so cool and they sound awesome. It's been such a fun week and then we're going to New York tomorrow and we're playing a few shows with Liz Cooper who's amazing, but also like my really good friend. So we'll have a little bit of home and then we get to make our way back.

When I get home, I'll crash for sure. I call them burn days where I'm like… phone, do not disturb. I'm just zonked and I won't leave my house, so that'll probably happen.

TMEB: Where were you when you heard the Blondshell news?

ME: We literally were on tour with Phenom, so this is my second tour. Phenom was my first. We found out in Vermont or something.

TMEB: I could see that you have like a killer fashion sense.

ME: [laughs]

TMEB: Do you not find it killer?

ME: No. Oh, I think I'm... There's a... I forget what show it is. It's like Eastbound and Down. And he says something where it's like, honey, I love you. I think you're great. But you dress like a dickhead. And I'm like, sometimes I think that's... I like to be a little... I like to just mess with things. I kind of be a joke slightly.

TMEB: I am the same way. I'm wearing all black now, so that doesn't count. But do you know Remi Wolf? She’s my fashion icon. I love like mixed matching on purpose and just like the fun of it and like wearing whatever I want. And the weirder looks I get, the better the outfit is.

ME: I love an outfit, but I would rather dress like a costume.

TMEB: Montreal is like honestly known for their thrift shops. Did you have time to look around like Saint-Denis Street or anything?

ME: We heard Fairmont has tricky parking, so they were like… get here f*cking early. The stairs are tall, Bringing your stuff in. We didn't necessarily go in anywhere. I haven't been able to go shopping like this whole tour.

TMEB: Have you found any new favourite spots in any cities that you've been?

ME: Chicago was awesome because we played Metro. But it was my producer who made Spittake; Ryan McFadden is from there. He was there. My friend Christian and his boyfriend were there. Like it just was like a huge... So many friends from Nashville were there. But our friend Noah lives there and he just showed us around. I would say no specifics, but Chicago the city. I'd only spent like Lollapalooza there, which does not count.

TMEB: You're releasing a new single tonight. Are you doing anything to celebrate the release?

ME: I feel like there's a lot of things going on because we're like we're gonna celebrate with Blondshell and everyone because it's our last show, and there’s a birthday in the tour crew.

TMEB: I love it. This new album is absolutely insane. My favorite songs are “baby” and “lylefromsanfransisco”. Which honestly made me feel a bit dyslexic when I was reading it. What song was the hardest to create?

ME: Maybe “spittake”, like the minute long song, just because having that be the short like little demo that like I made was like a last minute decision We went in, we recorded the whole thing. It was not meant to be like a four minute song, but I wanted it to be the album name.

But for like the new one, it's like “sportcar [scrapped]” was not super hard to finagle, but it was weird. It's interesting going back because we wanted to respect what we did in that. So we didn't want to like rerecord so much. That little time travel thing was challenging, but it was awesome. It was worth it.

TMEB: I went on randomquestion.com, and this is the random question that it gave me: What bends your mind every time you think about it?

ME: This like isn't a good answer, but this is the first thing that popped into my head… It makes me spiral. Hayden, who I live with, he's my boyfriend, he plays drums for me, plays MLB- It's a baseball game. But you can pitch and you can hit. When I'm pitching, you're basically playing a computer and you're trying to basically beat the computer's algorithm of what they think you're supposed to do. Right. And I just spiral down being like, I think that you think a human is going to do this. So I'm going to do the opposite and do this. And I spiral. My pulse is racing.

TMEB: I'm sorry. I had to like remind you of that.

ME: No, here's the thing. I love it. I'm literally like I'm beating this AI. Like I've got this. I can beat a computer for sure, but sometimes I don't. Then that's when it's like devastating.

TMEB: Then you need to take a break and you have like your burnout day.

ME: Exactly.

TMEB: One last question for you. Who are you listening to right now?

ME: We were listening to so much in the car. We're moving in September, so I have a playlist that feels last summer in Nashville because that's where we're based.The new Wednesday song has been on. I'm stoked about the new Alex G… So kind of in that world, like it feels very summery and just nice.

TMEB: It was so great chatting with you. And I'm so excited to see you perform in like 30 minutes.

ME: Literally. I’m going to set up merch!

Interview with Meg Elsier.

Must See Shows at Montreal’s Jazz Festival 2025.