Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who works mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. She has released three studio albums, I Believe You Liar (July 2010), There There (September 2014) and Batflowers (August 2020). Both I Believe You Liar and There There reached the top 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Her music has been described by I-D as “sexy synth-laden pop”[1] and in 2019 the Sydney Morning Herald said of her intimate tour run, that “Washington’s impressive command of her relatively small stage gave proof her music can work anywhere, anyway, any time.”[2] She has won three ARIA Music Awards with two in 2010 for I Believe You Liar, Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist – Release. The other win was Best Cover Art for Batflowers in 2020, shared with Adam Dal Pozzo and Michelle Pitiris.
Megan Alexanda Washington[3] was born on 7 January 1986 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to Australian parents.[4] She grew up with her father, Rick Washington, a part-time DJ for “weddings, parties and balls”; her mother, Karen Amos, and an older sibling.[5][6] The artist started primary school in Port Moresby and, in 1996, the family moved to Brisbane, where she completed her secondary education at Moreton Bay College.[6][7][8]
Washington developed a stutter just before primary school and explained that “The way that I speak is idiosyncratic because it’s based on 20 years of ‘loopholing’, of avoiding words that trip me up. The only thing I still (she pauses briefly) have trouble with is sustained syllables – like s’s and ts and fs together.”[5][6] Later she attended Sheldon College and its Australian School of the Arts where she continued her interest in music.[7] She studied for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Queensland University of Technology and then jazz voice at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.[7][8][9]
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