Voice of M3GAN Jenna Davis Talks Sequel & Debut Album

Hey guys, Lesley Robbin's here in the Young Hollywood Lounge, joined by this lovely lady. Now, you know the face, you definitely know the voice. Your favorite AI Evil Robot, Megan. But, her name is Miss Jenna Davis. Welcome to the Young Hollywood Lounge.

Hi guys. Hello. Thank you for having me.

Amazing to see you here.

Thank you. I'm so excited. I've watched Young Hollywood actually growing up, so this feels very surreal. I remember watching so many interviews when I was nine, 10. I mean, literally since I was very young, so it feels it feels very surreal to be here.

Right. Right. So you watched our YouTube channel, but you have your own.

I do. Yes.

So did you get inspiration from Young Hollywood or how did you even start YouTube back in the day?

Sure. I always wanted to create and just have fun as a kid. And so along with acting and music, I told my mom at 13 that I wanted to be a YouTuber. And we didn't really understand that you can kind of create a career out of YouTube as well. So my mom kind of thought of it as a joke in some way because I learned to edit by myself from watching YouTube videos. My mom's like, I wish you would have started sooner now if we would have known, then we would have really helped you and not have left you in your room to just try to figure it out yourself. And I'm like, well, that's exactly what I did because I kind of see myself as like a three-legged stool and to always keep myself busy. I like to focus on many different things because if not, if you get so stuck in one career path, I feel like sometimes you can become super like hyper-fixated on it or obsessed with it and you know, the entertainment industry is out of your control and not on your timing and you know, you can create and do other things meanwhile. That was kind of my mindset from a young age was, okay, if I'm not on set, well, I can make my own set at home and have fun and create and use my imagination.

Very wise words. Your mom brought you up right. But now let's go back to that stool analogy and we're going to like tap into one leg of the stool.

Sure.

Your singing and songwriting career.

Thank you. Yeah.

You're taking off.

Thank you. I mean, it's been such a blast. I've been singing ever since I was young because my mom was a piano and voice coach. So I have always had music in my life, but I knew I wanted to do country from the beginning cuz I was raised on Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton and my personal favorite, Shania Twain. I love her so much. Through that I, you know, just have always had country music in my life and I've always just enjoyed the storytelling of it so much and I started songwriting when I was, I think, 15 because of a boy I met on a cruise. Boys. Of course, but that's how it all starts. And then you realize that, you know, you can really express your emotions. I always say when words fail, music speaks. And um, I feel like that's how I get my emotions out. It's just either writing a rage song and screaming at somebody virtually or writing something sad or happy. I feel like it's just a way to express emotion.

Yeah, I I'm curious what happened with the boy from the cruise cuz that's really the question, right?

I mean, my first song ever was called Summer of 19 because it was in 2019 and he went to prom with another girl. And so I got my little 15-year-old heart broken and I wrote my first song on my iPad and it just kind of birthed and came to life. And I went into my mom's room and I said, hey, I wrote a song for the first time and I actually think it's good. And that's how it all started. And then a couple singles later, working on my forthcoming album and a lot's happened and I've learned so much.

Tell me about the new release.

Yes. So I just released my new song called Miss Wanna Be. Too little, too late, that's too bad. I am so excited about it. The response has been really quite overwhelming. I posted it to TikTok and within 24 hours, it had a million views and I was like, what is going on here? Oh my goodness. I just kind of threw it out there. I was like, we're just going to we're just going to tease it and then I told my team. I was like, no, we're we got to release this one like ASAP. People are loving it. But it's pretty much about when your ex finds a new person that looks pretty much exactly like you. But the song was written by Shane Stevens, Abby Cabler, and Ria Kristensen and they are absolutely phenomenal and I have always loved the song since day one. I feel like this is the most challenging song vocally I've ever done.

What comes first, like putting notes down and and finding a melody or the lyrics to, you know, to get your emotions out.

I think I'm a big concept person. Ironically, so for instance, I have a song called FBI. And it's about how girls stalk guys on Instagram. And

No, we don't.

Exactly. Exactly. I love having my songs to be unique and like very concept-based. It's everything for me. When I think about creating a song, I think, okay, how am I going to market this? How am I going to really bring the visuals to life and how can I make, you know, just make it the most authentic to Jenna, but also relatable to my audience. And so most of the time, I'm a pretty big title person. Is I want to come into the room with 30 to 50 titles. So then we just can go and have fun and go down a rabbit hole. I kind of feel like it's Alice in Wonderland in some way.

You have an Alice in Wonderland vibe. Actually. You know.

Thank you. That's a big, that's a big compliment. I mean, live action. Disney, hit me up.

Wait, but you're in the Disney family already.

I am.

When you look back on your Disney days, does it does it just like that's the seed that helped everything?

Yeah, absolutely. I think it just taught me so much. It was my first, I was on Raven's home and it's taught me so much and now years later, I mean, I I just worked at another multi-cam this past week and that whole experience, I just learned so much and I I just had the best experience on Disney and they have really good cookie pie and craft services.

Well, your your famous character, Megan, saying but that's not your real voice. Thank goodness, like everyone that thought her real voice.

Well, I was very scared when I was doing the first film because I didn't want people to think that how I sing for the character is how I actually sing in real life. But, you know, it's she's super fun to play and it's also just like, I guess a layer of me that I can dive into if if needed and when needed.

Well, we have 2. 0 happening.

Yes, more evil.

Yes, what's happening with Megan 2. 0?

Oh my goodness. I mean, if you watch the trailer, you can see there's definitely some new surprises and things that are going to occur. I think this includes a lot more action. A lot of people have been pointing that out, which has been super exciting. I'm really excited for people to see. I've been attending conventions and meeting people that love the film so much and it is so incredible to see the reaction and I could never ask for anything better or more. People just love her so much. And I'm like, oh my gosh, thank goodness. What a relief.

Doesn't it make you a Scream Queen? Like some people have used those words and that is beyond crazy to me because I really never watched too much horror before the film. Tell me if I'm wrong. You put the voice on the doll after the film was done?

For the first film. Yeah. I came post-production and that was really bizarre and really exciting and um, but it was also quite a challenge because you know, when you're when you're voice acting, you're not necessarily having that face-to-face communication. And that is a lot easier when you have another person to talk to her. Hey, can we go through this scene together? Hey, can we do this? And it's been such a blast. And our director, Mr. Gerard Johnstone, he is phenomenal and I applaud him so much and I forever will applaud him because he always knows what he wants.

What I love asking actors about their audition process and to get that role. Is it true the closet and the iPhone and the

Yes, I did it on my bedroom floor closet. And I really got the role. I saw that it was for an AI. And I thought, okay, well, there's two ways I can go about this. I can be like Siri and Alexa and kind of be boring. But then I read how much dialogue she had and I read that she's quite fun. She's not boring at all. She has some sass and personality. So I thought, okay, let's just give it a run for its money. Let's just give it my best shot and just go for it. And I kind of chose a character that's always been my motto when it comes to acting is like, how do I stand out and make casting directors be like, oh, who's that girl doing the weird, I don't know, accent or doing the weird hand thing or using that weird prop? They ended up really liking it. And at the end of the day, Gerard told me, he's like, you know, you you made a choice and nobody nobody else did that choice. And that's what made you stand out.

And that's what made you our Megan. And I'm like, well, I'm so glad I did. But yeah, bedroom floor closet, probably in some sweats and some Britney Spears graphic tee or something. I don't know. I always try to do my auditions in the most comfy clothes, especially when they're voiceover. Just there in my sweats playing an evil robot. It's it's a fun time.

But you're not evil. You're sweet as can be.

Thank you.

You're Alice in Wonderland.

Thank you. I don't know. I feel like I always get these weird mean parts and I'm like, well, you know, maybe one day I'll play someone that's similar to me. But honestly, it's really fun and it's such a challenge to play someone so far different from myself. You know, Megan was a lot of people's introductory like horror film. Like I've had 13-year-olds, 8-year-olds even, 6-year-olds come up to me, tell me that it was their first horror film. So hopefully number two will exceed all of their expectations and they'll like it even more. I want it to be the thing where like people say that they like the sequel more than the original. It really made a splash in the town, which is so exciting and I I really think number two will will do the same because Gerard has continued that vision and I'm really thankful that he's he believes in me and still believes in me enough to keep to keep me there. So it's super fun.