Tag: album every month 2026

The Album Every Month Goal: An Honest Mid-August Check-In

My big 2026 goal was to release one album every month. Let us check in honestly on how that is going.

January through August: on track. Eight full months of brand-new music. From Through It All in the early year to Quilt Anthems in July, Bring Us Home, and now Mixtape Mindset landing in August, every single month has brought something new to the surface.

What still lies ahead is just as ambitious: Crisp Fall Air in September, the Halloween album with my son in October, the Christmas Folklore Album in November, and the untitled holiday album plus a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day release in December.

Here is what nobody tells you about releasing music every month: it requires a very specific relationship with the creative process. You cannot wait for inspiration to strike when you feel like it. You have to show up and find it. You cannot second-guess endlessly or get stuck tweaking a single mix for six months. You have to make the call, finish the work, and move forward. You have to trust that the next album is already inside you before you have even finished the current one.

This musical commitment does not exist in a vacuum, either. Sitting alongside my monthly releases is my commitment to write and publish a daily blog post every single day of the year.

At first, balancing continuous music production with a daily publishing habit felt like a massive mountain to climb. What I have realized over these past eight months is that the two habits feed each other. Writing daily keeps my storytelling instincts sharp and prevents creative stagnation. By the time I sit down to work on music, the ideas are already flowing because the creative pump has been primed all morning.

It has been one of the most creatively demanding and creatively rewarding years of my life. Both things are completely true at the exact same time.

If you have been listening, if you have streamed even one of these albums or shared a song with a friend, thank you. Every play, every save, and every add to a personal playlist keeps this engine running. You are a real part of why this is working.

Stream Mixtape Mindset on Spotify. Join my email list for upcoming release announcements and behind-the-scenes updates!

August 25, 2026
Six Months In: The 2026 Report Card

Can you believe we are at the end of June? I absolutely cannot.

Let me do a quick 2026 check-in because I set some big goals in January and I want to be accountable to them publicly. That’s what we do here — we’re honest.

Goal: Release an album every month. Status: ON TRACK ✅ We have had music drop every single month of 2026. Through It All was a labor of love. The singles have been finding their people. And July is about to bring something really special (Quilt Anthems, in case you’ve been napping through this week’s posts 😂).

Goal: Write a blog every single day. Status: ON TRACK ✅ Today is Day 181 of the year and this is blog post 181. I am not kidding when I say this daily practice has transformed how I think about communication, connection, and showing up for my audience.

Goal: Get songs on playlists and into film/TV. Status: IN PROGRESS 🎯 This is the longer runway goal and I’m working it every day. The strategy is in place. The music is built for it. Now it’s about persistence and the right opportunities finding each other.

Bonus goal that wasn’t on the original list: the book. It exists. It needs editing. We are getting there.

I am so grateful for every single one of you who reads these posts, listens to the music, comments, shares, follows. You are the reason this is worth doing.

July is going to be INCREDIBLE. I cannot wait to show you what’s coming.

Please follow me on every streaming platform you use — • SPOTIFY • APPLE MUSIC • AMAZON MUSIC • DEEZER • PANDORA • YOUTUBE — so the Quilt Anthems album lands right in your feed the day it drops. And get on my email list for early access and behind-the-scenes content.

Here’s to the second half of 2026. Let’s make it count. 🎶

June 30, 2026
An Album Every Month: Here’s the Honest Truth About That Goal

Okay. Let’s talk about the album-a-month goal because people ask me about this a LOT.

First, yes — it’s real. I genuinely committed to releasing an album every single month of 2026. And yes, I know how that sounds. I can hear the voice in your head right now: But Melanie, doesn’t that compromise quality? Doesn’t that burn you out? Don’t you need more time to let songs breathe?

Here’s my honest answer: it depends on HOW you make music.

I work with Suno AI as my production platform, which means I can move from lyric to produced song much faster than artists who are booking studio time and working with producers and waiting on mixing and mastering timelines. That said — and I want to be really clear about this — the songwriting itself takes just as much care and emotional investment as it always has. I don’t phone in lyrics. I don’t pick topics randomly. Every song I write comes from a real place, a real feeling, a real story.

The AI helps me produce. The heart behind it is still mine.

I also want to be open about something I’m really proud of: I collaborate with Claude AI on lyrics, blog content, and strategy. I know, I know — some people have feelings about AI in creative work. But here’s my take: I use it the same way I’d use a really brilliant co-writer who never sleeps and is always available at 2am when the idea hits. The ideas come from me. The emotion comes from me. The voice — literally and figuratively — is mine. Claude helps me shape and develop. It’s a tool, just like Suno, just like my laptop, just like a rhyming dictionary.

And the results? Six albums in six months. With more coming.

If you want to follow this journey in real time, follow me on all your streaming platforms and turn on notifications. Every month, something new. I promise it’s going to be worth it.

Comment below: What do you think about AI in music? I genuinely want to hear your perspective — I’m not scared of the conversation.

June 12, 2026