SO MANY of us hide who we really are. All too often, the apprehension of being outcast, of being misunderstood, is primal and overwhelming.

The allure of the orthodoxy most pressing, most will simply choose to blend in with the tide – swirling in an ocean of derivative taste and personality.

Thankfully, Megan Black is not one of those people.

The Livingston songwriter seamlessly glides against the grain in a celebration of the self. Authenticity amid a tempest of conformity; originality in the face of ubiquitous imitation. It seems she has been doing so all her life.

But all that – every step taken toward herself – was by no means easy. Indeed, hers is a story of identity and empowerment: how she gained a new understanding of herself when she came out as queer and how that shaped her adult life and journey as an artist.

She tells The Weekender: "A lot of the music I have been putting out is the kind of that thing I needed growing up. It's important to me, as a musician, to not make everything about being queer or everything about being a feminist.

"I don't just want to be ranting at people all the time. But I'll always want to connect with people who are like me, who might have been in a similar position to me when I was growing up. We all need that safe space and to hear someone writing about the things they are feeling.

"It's not the main thing, but it is a big factor in who I am as a musician and a person."

She added: "Since coming out as queer, I feel I have found a lot of personal empowerment by meeting other queer people or going to feminist protests and things like that. I feel I've become more authentic to myself."

Black is a woman who takes big steps – instead of inching forward in increments, she will stride with purpose.

Her strength, in part, comes from the relationship she has with her music. It is a comfort and instigator; a call to discover more about herself with a safety net waiting below.

She reflects on her earlier work and how she took one major step after another. While, of course, a first release for any artist would be a source of nervousness, Black had a little more at stake.

Coming to terms with her sexuality would have taken some time. But, emboldened by her love of music, she took the opportunity to essentially come out to the world with her debut release – something not everyone in her life had really seen coming.

"The first song I released was Fur Coat Queen," Black looks back. "There was a girl that I worked with at the time that I had a crush on for years. Eventually, I just put lyrics to this melody and the song came to life. But it was just about a girl I worked with that I fancied and had a fur coat.

"It wasn't that big of a thing, but it meant quite a lot to me. I was writing songs that were real to my own experience. I just felt liberated; it gave me the opportunity to come out by doing music."

She continues: "I released that song and no one really knew what it was about. I think I did an interview about being queer and at that time, my parents didn't know – no one really knew.

"And I remember my mum sitting down one night and just looking over at me and saying: 'So… is this what the song is about?' and I was like: 'Uhmmm, yep! If you want to ask me questions, you can'.

"I think I was at the point where I just wanted to drop this thing into the world and hope for the best. I hadn't talked too much about being queer before and writing about it helped. That song is something I will always be thankful for.

"I have spoken with other queer people, they have said that they really enjoyed the fact the song is about coming out. Because it's such a big deal for people and how they chose to do it. So it's something that I will always be thankful to have made and put out there."

The Fur Coat debut in 2019 was soon followed up by Hang Out Dry in 2020. Over time, Black began to feel a lot more comfortable as a stage performer, incorporating more and more new elements into her show. The keyword is empowerment: what would give her the freedom to express herself in whatever way she saw fit.

It wasn't long before the moniker of 'Hippy-dippy drag queen' was out in the world the songs were freely flowing. Indeed, 2021 proved to be another huge leap forward for Black who unveiled three new tracks in the form of the mighty Freedom Belongs to Him, San Francisco and Sweet Bisexual.

The latter releases are perhaps the most unique and give the truest insight into the artist and where she is at the moment.

"It's definitely a new stage for me," she adds. "It's music I feel a lot more comfortable playing and performing. I am definitely having a lot of fun experimenting with more bluesy vibes. I suppose it's bordering on 'old man music' – it's basically the stuff I sit and listen to, so I'm taking a lot of inspiration from it.

"Pretty sure I wrote the three tracks in lockdown so I guess there is a sense of cohesion there. I also worked with a band of session musicians to practice and record them and a lot of the tracks came down to them. I would write the songs but the guys would make their parts their own. So, the songs do stand apart, but they do share links as well.

On her latest release, Black says: "Sweet Bisexual was a nod to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was pretty much my bible for getting through life – and still is, I suppose. So, I kind of wanted to pay some form of tribute to that – a bit of an ode to Sweet Transvestite.

"It does come down to me being a lot more confident in who I am and paying tribute to the things that have made me feel more confident."

On Thursday this week, Black plays DreadnoughtRocks in Bathgate with a show at the Hug and Pint in Glasgow set for December 8, supporting Liv Dawn.