Talking to YouTube Sensations, Megan & Liz

Earlier in the year, I introduced you to 16 year old singer/songwriters Megan and Liz from Michigan.



Since then, the girls have opened for singer/songwriter, Savannah Outen and were surprised by Oprah Winfrey on Skype with Taylor Swift concert tickets and a personal meet and greet with the star. Today, Megan & Liz have over 95,200 YouTube subscribers and 3 of their covers have surpassed 1 million views, making "The Climb" cover originally sung by Miley Cyrus the most watched cover with over 2,226,215 views! Also today, I am here to present you my interview with the girls so enjoy!

How have your lives changed since appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show and what was it like meeting Taylor Swift?
Megan: Well at school, people say, "You guys are famous"-
Liz: And they'll say, "You guys think you are so cool because you were on Oprah" and it's all joking.
Megan: Yeah. I mean, obviously though our YouTube went up in subscribers.
Liz: It went up really fast.
Megan: We got at least I think 14,000 since the show aired.

What was it like meeting Taylor Swift?
Liz: It was so cool. I idolized her so much so just to be able to meet her and have her know who we are was awesome.
Megan: She's so nice, it was so cool.

We've seen you on Oprah but what other talk show would you like to appear on?
Ellen! We love Ellen!
Megan: She is so funny.
Liz: That would be awesome.

If were given the opportunity to do a cameo on your favorite TV show, what would it be?
The Office would be cool. 90210 or Hannah Montana would be really cool too.

What is it like to hear people singing your original songs?
We've kind of gotten used to it. It's still a bit weird since people put their own variations to it but it's cool since we wrote it. It's really flattering that they want to choose our song to sing.

How long does it take to learn the covers?
Liz: It depends. If it's a song that we have both been listening to for a long time and then we decide to cover it, it takes about 40 minutes. Well just get in one of our rooms and work on it. If it's a song we don't know very well, it will take a few days since we have to learn it first and then work on the cover.

How do you determine which songs you will cover?
Liz: The songs need to fit our voices where we can make great harmonies and we also look at what is popular. If it is more popular, it will get more views which is good, since we will get more subscribers.

So it's safe to say that some songs that you cover, you cover because they are popular, not so much because you were fans of the artist at first?
Megan: Oh yeah. The most recent cover we did, "Fireflies" by Owl City...we kind of listened to Owl City but since everyone knew this song, we decided to try it out.

What song has been the most challenging to cover and the easiest to cover?
Megan: That's a really good question. The most challenging would have to be Beyonce's "Halo" because-
Liz: You can't compete with Beyonce.
Megan: Yeah. The easiest..."Fireflies" was pretty easy.
Liz: Although the words were really confusing.
Megan: Yeah but the harmonies came really fast. "Our Song" by Taylor Swift was really easy too.
Liz: Yeah.

Megan, what was your first guitar?
My first guitar was Liz's guitar that she got for Christmas. It was a First Act guitar from Wal Mart. My mom said that if I became good at it, she would get me a nice one so I was determined after that. Then I got my first Fender acoustic, which I named Bubbles and it is my light colored one. My second is the same but black and it's name is Marge.

Wow. So...do you like The Simpsons or something?
Megan: No actually someone said that I should name it Marge and -
Liz: It looks like a Marge.
Megan: Yeah and it kind of stuck even though it was kind of like a joke at first.

Megan, what was the first song you learned how to play on guitar?
I believe it was "No One" by Aly & AJ since we were determined to learn it. Liz started learning it on guitar and I on the piano and then Liz quit guitar so I started learning it on guitar.

Liz, can we expect you to play guitar in an upcoming video?
Umm...yes. I think if I do it won't be the main part of the song, just a little compliment to the main guitar.

What instruments do you want to learn how to play?
Liz: I would want to learn the piano and write songs with the piano. I definitely want to learn how to play the drums.



What are some tips for song writing and guitar learning?
Megan: For songwriting, write what you feel strongly about and know about. Don't give up on your song because sometimes it can take like a month to write an entire song. For guitar, stick with it even though your fingers will hurt. Stick with it because it is so worth it in the end.

Is there anything that you wouldn’t write about in a song?
Megan: Clubbing and getting drunk, stuff like that. That is not something that we do. If it's not what we have experienced, we won't write about it.

What do you do about writer’s block?
Put what you have down and then come back to it. Or talk to the person that the song is about and then inspiration will usually come to you.

Where do you go to get in the writer's room?
It's usually in either of our rooms or in the backyard. A lot of our songs have been written outside because there are no distractions and it's very calming.

As sisters, is it harder or easier to work together?
It's easier and it's harder because we are not afraid to be honest with each other.

How do you feel about being compared?
Megan: It was tough at first because we weren't used to being compared so directly. YouTube tells it like it is. We haven't gotten used to it though.

Would you ever do a collaboration song with any singers on YouTube?
Megan: Yes. It's hard to do but if Savannah ever wanted to do one, that would be sweet.
Liz: Yeah, that would be awesome.
Megan: But it is hard doing it with someone else on YouTube since everyone lives everywhere. Savannah lives in Oregon, Esmee lives in Europe. But it would be cool.
Liz: If we got the opportunity, definitely.

Are there plans for an upcoming album?
We are talking to people right now but you never know how things can play out so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

What cities would you want to go to when you eventually go on your first tour?
Every city! Particularly Chicago and NYC, San Francisco, Miami...just everywhere!

What cause or foundation are you interested in supporting?
Make A Wish Foundation and Relay for Life. We sang for Relay for Life this summer.

If you had one wish, what would it be?
Our wish already came true, being on Oprah and meeting Taylor Swift. Are we allowed to wish for more wishes? We really want to have an album to call our own.

Would your album be full of the original songs we have heard or would you like to play around with different genres?
Liz: There are a lot of songs the fans haven't heard that have so many different sounds from rock and pop to jazz and a little bit of country so it would be a wide variety.

What is your favorite song at the moment?
"Jump Then Fall" by Taylor Swift and "Six Months" by Hey Monday.
Megan: Yesterday we practiced "Jump Then Fall" and Liz is still learning it so once we get that down, that should be our next video.

What independent artists do you enjoy?
Artist Vs. Poet, The Somerset, Savannah Outen, and Savvy & Mandy.

Message for the fans:
We love you and thanks for everything that you all do. You have gotten us where we are and we are so blessed so thank you.


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Buy the original Megan & Liz song, "6th Sense" on iTunes now.

Listen to their original songs on Myspace.

Follow Megan & Liz on Twitter.