Jenna Davis is still getting used to being one of the most recognizable voices in horror.
Davis, 21, became the now-iconic voice of M3GAN in the 2023 film. Now, she’s back for M3GAN 2.0, a role that the actress said was a “difficult but fun task.”
“When I got introduced to M3GAN and the fact that she was a new robot, but she had sass and humor, I thought, ‘How could I make her my own and make her special?’” Davis exclusively told Us Weekly of wanting to make the character feel memorable.
Davis did, after all, craft how M3GAN would sound from the floor up — literally. “I auditioned for the role in my bedroom closet on my floor,” she shared with Us. She explained that the audition was highly confidential and admitted she didn’t initially know what role she was auditioning for. “I didn’t know what she looked like or anything. So I just kind of gave it my best shot.”
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Now, the M3GAN voice has become second nature — and it’s one of her favorite ways to scare people. “Whenever I get to do marketing for Megan, it’s very fun because [my costars are] not used to being in the room with me,” Davis said with a laugh, explaining that all of the voice work for the character took place in a vocal booth. “They can just see how fast I can turn her on. So it’s really fun to scare people like that!”
The success of M3GAN 2.0 has been a dream come true for the Texas native, who was initially hesitant about how horror comedy would be received. “It was definitely nerve wracking, especially introducing a new villain,” she said “You’re dealing with a lot of other popular villains out there and there’s a lot of icons, and now people are calling her an icon, which is so mind boggling.”
Davis told Us that she was asked to bring a whole a different side of M3GAN in this sequel. “Her sass has not left the building. It’s very present. And that is just so fun for me as an actress to be able to play with,” she said. “I think viewers are gonna be really shocked when they sit inside the theater and watch it.”
But with all the success comes negative feedback at times, which Davis is learning to take in stride. She’s using her career as a musician to navigate all the backlash — one song at a time. The singer released her debut album, Where Did That Girl Go?, last month, which includes the hit single “On A Budget.” Davis told Us that the song, which was initially cowritten by Kelsea Ballerini, serves as her sassy response to haters and internet trolls.
A few years ago, a video Davis made doing a tongue twister went viral, and while the video garnered millions of views on social media, it also earned her a fair amount of hate comments. “I had never received so much hate in my life, and it was just a time in my life that I just learned a lot from.”
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That’s where “On a Budget” came in. “When I heard that song, my team basically pitched it to me because they thought it would be a good fit because I was an online meme called ‘Penny Nickel Dime.’ And I had told them that I had always wanted to have a song about clapping back to haters,” Davis explained, noting that the track acts as a letter to Davis’s younger self. She confessed that the message was perfect for what she wanted to say at the time.
While the multi-hyphenate prefers to write her own songs, this one just happened to be the perfect match. “It was quite ironic because it was a clap back song to haters, but it was in the terms of money and that was what my meme was about,” she told Us.
Jenna Davis Lily Nelson
“I love the song because it really resonates with me. And even though I didn’t write it, Kelsey and Shane wanted me to have the song, which is so gracious of them. It felt like just a connection.”
With songs like “Messy,” “Miss Wannabe” and “Actor,” Davis’s debut album offers listeners a look at two sides of her — sweet and salty. “I like to call it sweet and salty, because it has both,” she told Us. “I think there’s something for everybody on the project, whether that’s really happy experiences or not so happy experiences, and it’s just very vulnerable.”
M3GAN 2.0 is currently in theaters and Where Did That Girl Go? is on shelves now.