How to Supercharge Your Second Release with Meg Smith
The legendary Elvis Costello once said, "You have your whole life to write your first album and only 18 months to write your second."
That doesn't phase Meg Smith.
About Meg
A California-born and Brooklyn-based pop artist, Meg is making her mark on the music industry by not waiting for opportunities to strike -- when she lost her job and got invited to Billboard’s Women In Music Awards in the same week, she made a viral TikTok about it. She bundled her 2022 releases into the effervescent 2023 Rom-Com Pop EP, a unique blend of early 2000s core and modern hooks, and then dropped another six equally mesmerizing songs. Most crucially, her "sad girl versions" of "All the Things You Ruin," "But I'd Miss You Too Much," and "Jesus Christ in a Miniskirt" are artistic and commercial triumphs, occasionally eclipsing the originals' streaming numbers and delighting her multitude of fans.
These are just three reasons Rolling Stone named Meg one of pop's Next Big Things, but, to hear Meg tell it, these successes stemmed from what scares artists most: anonymity.
"I think what I realized pretty quickly was that I wasn't going to be discovered," Meg says. "and, growing up in LA, I was surrounded by a lot of people who had a lot of industry connections and could afford to take their time [making moves] to further their career. I didn't have that luxury."
"I was, like, okay: I need to be found. I have to release music."
If you want to be found, you must release music – regularly. That's easier said than done (again, ask Elvis Costello). Still, TuneCore's commitment to artist development means addressing the struggle of releasing your second single or album head-on, from helping you galvanize fans to pinpointing the perfect way to reimagine your tracks.
Here's how to supercharge your second release – with the help of the one and only Meg Smith.
How to Release Your 2nd Music Project
Chase Consistency
Step one to supercharging your second release is to take the pressure off of it. That's easier said than done, but Meg used big-picture thinking.
"In 2023, my goal was just to release as much music as humanly possible," she says, "and I'd already released nine songs, so I decided to release an acoustic version of one of those too."
The result? The "sad girl version" of "All the Things You Ruin" eclipsed the studio version's streams on Spotify. Meg's commitment to getting more material onto DSPs didn't rely on writing more music. Instead, she maximized her pre-existing catalog while committing to a more regular release schedule.
That left less room for one of the artists' most ardent enemies: overthinking. "When I just put stuff out there all the time – for better or worse – it helped me be a little less precious," Meg notes. "[Doing that] helps you be a little less precious. And you learn how to be adaptable and flexible and make things happen for yourself instead of waiting for opportunities."
Don’t Be Afraid of Failing Quietly
Making things happen means taking risks, and taking risks means chancing failure. Luckily, if you’re an artist on the up and up, reframing your perspective on failure is possible.
As Meg Smith puts it: “If you’re just starting [making music], you have the luxury of getting to fail quietly. If you release one bad song or something that doesn’t do well, it’s ok. You never know what will work, and the more you put out there, the more chances you’re getting yourself at getting lucky.”
It’s hard to get lucky in this industry. It’s even harder to drop your second release when it feels like any career momentum you’ll ever have rides on its success. When you allow yourself to “fail quietly” – and accept some songs won’t connect with audiences precisely the way you dream they will – you set yourself up to successfully release the track that connects with your audience and levels up your place in the music industry.
Trust Your Fans
Regarding her “sad girl versions,” Meg gives credit where credit is due. “It genuinely came from my fans,” Meg says. “I have a fan group chat on Instagram, and I sent them a clip of the stripped-down ‘all the things you ruin’ sessions. I told them I thought it’d be fun to not just call it an acoustic version, and they were like, ‘You should call it a sad girl version.’”
The amount of actionable advice here is staggering:
Look to the listeners who already love your work to supercharge your second release – they’re already invested in your career in general and see it from a different perspective than you do. These traits are invaluable.
Set up ways to connect directly with your fans. Do you have an Instagram group chat? What about a Discord or WhatsApp thread? Your options are more wide-ranging and user-friendly than ever.
Harness the power of niche genres to make your mark in the music industry. “sad girl” songs are a rising trend in pop music. By embracing this style, Meg set herself apart from her peers while establishing a solid connection with others.
Let’s discuss that last item more fully.
Set the Mood through Spotify
Shoegaze Now. Indie Twang. Hot Pink. These are all micro-genres or playlists that netted massive stream numbers on Spotify. So is the “sad girl starter pack.” To hear Meg tell it, leaning into the playlist model might help your songs get selected for them. “So much of Spotify’s playlisting is mood-based, it makes their job easier to realize ‘hey, this is a sad girl song.’”
It’s literally in the title of Meg’s “sad girl versions,” and the results speak for themselves. The “sad girl version” of “Jesus Christ in a mini skirt” is currently one of Meg’s top-five songs on Apple Music.
So, if you’re considering dropping an acoustic or remixed version of your music, ask yourself if it fits on any of the Spotify playlists you’re a fan of. If you want to rework your track, browse DSP’s throngs of curated mood-setters for inspiration. You’ll increase the likelihood of getting featured and making the algorithm happy.
In Conclusion: Don’t Overthink It
If there’s a connective tissue to supercharging your second release, it’s that overthinking is the enemy of it.
“You’ll think this [song] is what people want, and then it’s like, nope, that was totally wrong,” Meg says. By contrast, not overthinking things teaches you “how to be really adaptable and flexible instead of waiting” for momentum to happen. You have more resources than you imagine you do. You have more ways to maximize those resources than meets the eye, from your fanbase to studio outtakes to the streaming platforms on which you’re already trying to make waves.
And if you’re looking at Meg and other TuneCore artists and thinking what they’re achieving feels impossible, she confirms it isn’t and that you aren’t alone in the struggle. “I’m an independent artist…I don’t have $500 to put towards YouTube ads. I don’t have the [time] to get all my ducks in a row.”
What results from Meg’s cost-effective, intelligent, and generous efforts? Millions of streams and walking the red carpet at 2024’s Billboard Women in Music Awards.
You deserve to find out what your results will be, too.
Meg’s latest track, “You Fake Your British Accent,” is now available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.