SPOTLIGHT: MEG ELSIER IS A DIRTY GRUNGE GIRL
June 24, 2026
Written by Victoria Gauzza
Photo by MC Saunders
MEG ELSIER HIT THE MUSIC SCENE IN 2023 AND WAS ALWAYS HAPPY ABOUT THE MUSIC SHE MADE, BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED — the world has changed, and thus, so should we. Elsier managed to encapsulate that uncomfortable feeling with her newest song, ‘meaning of life.’
“I think I was trying to pacify everything and everyone in my life. like if we all commit to ‘none of this matters’ then we can all fix it.” Elsier comments. The song was inspired by a friend's breakup and her inherent desire to people-please, which spilled onto the pages of her diary without warning. “[I think] not being able to help someone, [thinking] I’m never gonna emotionally be on that level ever again. I didn’t know if the song was aggressive or mad or sad; it was all these emotions that needed to get out to move on.”
Photo by Jacq Justice
Elsier says that she performed the song live long before she decided to release it as a single. “When I was writing it, it didn’t sound grunge; that doesn’t mean the intention wasn’t there. We found it when we finally played it live, texturally we felt it.” The song’s first iteration was in 2024, but it was never a single; yet, there was never a doubt in Elsier’s mind that it would see the light of day. She explains, “When I was writing ‘spittake,’ this song was in contention with those songs. It was this song that I couldn’t get out of my head, and I didn’t want to put it away.” Two years later, ‘meaning of life’ is finally released, and in its full, dirty, grunge glory.
During the arctic tundra in early December, Meg and her friend drove to upstate New York to film the visualizer. As news outlets warned people to stay inside or risk getting hypothermia, Meg is filmed running around snow-covered boardwalks bundled up and holding a sign that asks, “What is the meaning of life?” A question that we all want the answer to, for Elsier, it’s everything, nothing, and something all at once. “I think I go back and forth with gaslighting myself of either ‘there is none, let's make something beautiful,’ or it’s my cat throwing up on my floor at three in the morning. It’s the little things, and I think it truly is whatever you need it to be to plow through.”
Photo by MC Saunders
Sonically, the song is nothing like Elsier’s made before, but it’s a dream of hers to make a record this way. “It definitely goes more Fugazi, PJ Harvey, Deftones. The mood they provide, and that feeling. It’s aggressively sad. It’s a dog hurt in the corner, trying to bite.” Elsier explains. The song starts with dirty guitar noises, reminiscent of the late 90’s grunge scene, paired with Elsier’s melodic voice, it transports you to her world, all the tension she’s been holding inside. It builds and builds throughout the three-minute song until it finally releases, with wild drums, guitar, and her ad-libbed primal screams in the background, letting the listener relieve themself, the ending of the song, Elsier repeats ‘there’s no reason to it,’ part affirmation, part acceptance. “i think meaning, and all these other songs just gave me the strength to push through it. It was a nice fuck you, and then I could grow from there.”
Elsier promises that the next album will have more of this sonic pocket that she’s happily found herself in, as well as some dance pop. “I’m just leaning into what I love.” She smiles—Oakley, her tabby cat, is sitting on her desk, biting her arm. “It’s Ex People Pleaser learning how to be human.” At the end of the day, aren’t we all?