Originally Published on November 4th, 2026

Mona Zhang, who goes by the stage name Meander, is an independent recording artist with a remarkable story.

Meander is from Australia, where her parents immigrated from China. As a child, she was a high achiever and that success led her to Med School. She would, however, drop out as she felt the path wasn’t meant for her. After school, she found herself in the corporate sector. As time would prove, this would be another venture where she would be left feeling unfulfilled.

As Meander struggled to find her place in society and perhaps the world, this search for her identity led her to an artistic place. Instead of beating that impulse back like so many of us do, she embraced it and now, she’s released her debut EP

Meander

Meander is the debut EP of independent recording artist, Meander. Her self-titled EP released on October 9th. At just under twenty minutes, this 5-song work features songs written and performed by Meander (with three songs co-written by Sean Brown), and was produced by Jeremy Chua and Ray Guo. Meander was recorded at Studio Chaddy.

Meander is alt-pop with a little bit of roots and R&B influence. It opens with Sunchaser, which almost feels like indie folk. However, Cruel to be Kind is more synth-pop, and heavily influenced by R&B.

The entire album is a glimpse of different identities and ways Meander is able to express herself. The stylistic diversity fuses together in the story she tells, which is her own. I personally love the sweetness of Come Back With Me, a song that could almost be country music. Meander’s voice is soft, gentle, and she sings with raw conviction. I particularly like how she is able to conform to the influence of each song.

Meander made the determination that her time was precious so she decided to stop wasting it.

There is plenty of evidence to support the idea that the world is full of people who spend their lives in pursuit of things they don’t want to actually do. It brings me joy (and a little bit of envy) to watch someone realize that and courageously decide to get off of that train.

When we look at our future and our careers are long behind us, are we going to be diving into closets to show our grandchildren our degrees or the watches we got from our companies after we retired? Or are we going to be throwing that album we recorded that one time on the record player? We can be proud of it all, and I don’t believe any person was meant for one thing. It’s not necessarily so important that we find what we think we’re supposed to do. I think the search for it is what’s important.

Meander achieved as a child. She got into med school. She worked in the corporate field. Now, she’s released an album. And you know what? It’s pretty damn good.

Go press play.