Inspiration in Isolation:
How Megan Tan Found Her Creative Calling During the Pandemic
By Jon Santiago
The start of the pandemic was the beginning of a boom for the creator economy. Stuck at home, it seemed like we were all caught up in the idea of going viral.
Everyone except Megan Tan.
“When Corona started and the TikTok hype began, I didn’t think much about it,” she said.
But after enough time isolated inside, living most of her life on screens like the rest of us, Megan had an epiphany…
Creating online could kick-start her career as a filmmaker.
“And so it began, video after video, try after try, which led me to where I am today,” said the now-viral creator.
Today, Megan is living her dream. She’s built an audience of more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, 110,000 subscribers on YouTube, and 200,000 fans on TikTok.
They all come to watch her cinematic vlogs and filmmaking tutorials. But they subscribe because of her authenticity and celebration of her Asian heritage.
"The one thing I love about my content is that I have so much creative freedom,” she said. “And I get to connect my work with my background and ethnicity (as a Malaysian) as well, which many people don’t know about.”
Creating and Finding Inspiration
Despite what the quality of her videos suggests, Megan works solo. And since she doesn’t have a team to help her, Megan looks both inward and outward for creative inspiration.
She always keeps her eyes and ears open for new ideas. Megan is well aware that inspiration can strike at any time.
“It sometimes comes from social media, when I go for a walk, when I hang out with friends," she said.
When ideas do come to mind, she writes them down rather than keeping them in her head. That way, once it’s time to create, she has some raw material to work with.
“I try getting small ideas from everything and combining and twisting it to be my own,” she said.
Why Music Matters
For creators like Megan, music is an integral part of their videos. She considers it the “catalyst” to her editing process.
That’s why Megan is grateful to have Track Club in her creator tool kit. She relies on its meticulously-crafted library for most, if not all, of her content.
“They have such a great variety that I find fits perfectly to my YouTube videos,” Megan said. “Their music always has such great quality and goes well with almost every video of mine.”
Consider one of her favorite videos she’s made to date: a romantic short film she shot in Paris, inspired by the movie Her. Megan wasn’t sure if she would find music that fit the romantic, dystopian mood she was going for.
But by using the right search filters, Megan was able to find exactly what she wanted on Track Club, without wasting time.
“The perfect fit,” she said. “The music I found on Track Club did not only feel futuristic but also ambient and calm.”
Sometimes Megan finds music that’s close to what she wants but needs some minor tweaks. Luckily Track Club has a feature called MixLab, which makes it easy for creators to remix songs to their liking.
“I normally use MixLab for songs that have vocals and also great beats that I would like to use,” she said. “And because I have to talk and explain in my Youtube videos, I often remove the vocals in MixLab before downloading the songs.”
Music is the spark that gets Megan going at one of the most critical stages of her creative process. She appreciates having a resource like Track Club to help bring her artistic vision to life.
This is sponsored content created in partnership with Track Club.
Try Track Club for 4 months free and be sure to check out Megan’s curated playlist here.