Meghan Trainor

• 1. Introduction

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  Meghan Trainor was signed to Epic Records just 20 minutes after performing a single song for the label's chairman, L.A. Reid. The American singer-songwriter was born in 1993. When she played that song in 2014, other labels had already passed on it. For years she had written music for other artists and doubted that she belonged on a stage herself. How does a young songwriter-for-hire end up in that room? Why did a song about self-acceptance win her devoted fans and sharp critics at the same time? And what happens to an artist whose first release climbs so high, so fast?

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• 2. Island Fusion Years

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  Meghan Elizabeth Trainor was born on the 22nd of December 1993 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Her parents, Kelli and Gary, were jewelers. She has an older brother named Ryan and a younger brother named Justin. Her father was also a music teacher and organist, and at age six she began singing with him at a Methodist church.

  Home recording came early. Trainor wrote songs and recorded them with the software GarageBand, starting with her own arrangement of "Heart and Soul," a song from 1938. Her mother said she did much of her playing by ear and had no formal training. Her father wanted her to try every musical genre.

  At age 12, Trainor joined Island Fusion, a cover band that also included her aunt, her younger brother and her father. For four years the group played soca music along with some of Trainor's own compositions. She sang and played piano, guitar and bongo drums. They covered Bob Marley songs in bars and even opened for the Jamaican singer Beenie Man. By age 13 she had written her first original song, "Give Me a Chance."

  The family left Nantucket when she was in the eighth grade. They stayed briefly in Orleans, Massachusetts, before settling in North Eastham. At Nauset Regional High School she studied guitar, played trumpet, sang in a jazz band for three years and worked as a substitute cheerleader.

  Her parents pushed her toward the music business. They took her to songwriting conventions and to venues where production companies were scouting new artists and songwriters. At age 15 she took guitar lessons from Johnny Spampinato, a former member of the band NRBQ. She recorded and produced her compositions with Logic Studio, and later worked in a home studio her parents built. In 2009 and 2010 she attended summer programs at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Another former NRBQ member would soon change the direction of her career.

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• 3. Songwriter for Hire

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  On the 25th of December 2009, Trainor released her debut album, Meghan Trainor. Between the ages of 15 and 17 she wrote, recorded, performed and produced three albums on her own. On the 16th of April 2010 she released the song "Take Care of Our Soldiers." All proceeds went to the United Service Organizations and to Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops. In 2011 came the acoustic albums I'll Sing with You and Only 17.

  At a music conference in Nashville, Trainor introduced herself to Al Anderson, a former NRBQ member. He liked her songwriting and referred her to his publisher, Carla Wallace of the Nashville firm Big Yellow Dog Music. Berklee had offered Trainor a full scholarship. She turned it down to pursue songwriting and signed with Big Yellow Dog Music in 2012.

  Her ability to compose in many genres made her a natural songwriter-for-hire. She was unsure about becoming a recording artist herself. Her father later said, "She thought she was one of the chubby girls who would never be an artist." She graduated from Nauset Regional High School in 2012, and on the 24th of April 2012 she released "Who I Wanna Be" as a digital download.

  Throughout 2013, Trainor traveled to Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles. She wrote country and pop songs and helped produce them. She sang lead and background vocals on demos for other artists, and her voice was occasionally used on the final recordings. She co-wrote "In the Sun," which the Danish artist Aya Katrine released as a single in May 2013.

  In June 2013, Wallace and a mutual friend introduced Trainor to the producer Kevin Kadish in Nashville. Both loved retro-style music, and they began recording together that month. Trainor grew frustrated with commuting from Nantucket to Los Angeles for songwriting sessions. Her parents did not want her to relocate there because of the expense. So in November 2013 she moved to Nashville and wrote for acts including Hunter Hayes, Rascal Flatts, R5 and Sabrina Carpenter. That same month, she and Kadish wrote a doo-wop song together.

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• 4. The Rejected Song

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  Insecurity about photographs of herself sat behind "All About That Bass." The song grew out of Trainor's struggle to accept her appearance. She and Kadish offered it to several record labels. All of them rejected the doo-wop track because it was not "synth-y, pop-y" enough.

  Then Trainor met Paul Pontius, the A&R agent for Epic Records, and performed the song for him. Pontius arranged the meeting with the label's chairman. Afterward, Trainor hired Troy Carter as her manager.

  The single was released on the 30th of June 2014. It reached number one in 58 countries, and its music video went viral. In the United States it spent eight consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. Worldwide it sold 11 million units.

  Success brought scrutiny. Media outlets including Vice, The Fader and Complex accused Trainor of cultural appropriation. Paul de Barros of The Seattle Times wrote that she affects an accent like that of a "young, urban, African American woman." Kelsey McKinney of Vox criticized a lyric aimed at skinny women, saying it dismissed people with smaller bodies. Trainor pointed to the line that follows it: "just kidding, I know even you think you are fat."

  By October 2015, the song was the only debut single by any artist to collect a billion views on YouTube.

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• 5. Title and Recovery

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  Her debut extended play, Title, arrived on the 9th of September 2014, with songs written by Trainor and Kadish. It peaked at number 15 on the US Billboard 200 and number 17 on the Canadian Albums Chart. Stereogum and Out noted that it proved she could outlast her first hit. Other critics, including McKinney and L.V. Anderson of Slate, called the title track and "All About That Bass" anti-feminist. Anderson argued that the songs send the message that "a woman's worth is defined by men." Trainor answered, "I don't know, man! I just wrote a fun song about loving your booty and loving your body!"

  Her second single, "Lips Are Movin," followed on the 21st of October 2014. Like its predecessor it was a retro song, and it peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked her as the fourth Top New Artist of the year. The magazine also placed her 12th on its list of the most powerful people in music under the age of 21.

  The major-label album Title came out on the 9th of January 2015 and replaced the EP of the same name on the iTunes Store. Her three self-released albums were removed from sale beforehand. Critics were lukewarm, and Metacritic averaged a score of 59 from 13 reviews. Buyers disagreed. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and earned a triple platinum certification. According to IFPI, it sold 1.8 million copies and was the ninth best-selling album of 2015 worldwide.

  The singles "Dear Future Husband" and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" both reached the top 20 of the Hot 100. The latter also reached number one on the Australian Singles Chart. The video for "Dear Future Husband" shows Trainor scrubbing a kitchen floor, and online critics called it sexist and anti-feminist. She replied, "but no, I don't believe I was being sexist. I think I was just writing my song to my future husband out there, wherever he is." In February 2015 she also joined Charlie Puth on his debut single, "Marvin Gaye."

  Her body then intervened. Her first headlining tour, That Bass Tour, began on the 11th of February 2015, with the Australian band Sheppard opening. A second run, the MTrain Tour, was set to begin on the 3rd of July with Puth and Life of Dillon as openers. That month Trainor was diagnosed with a vocal cord hemorrhage, and her medical team ordered complete vocal rest. The first two dates were delayed. On the 11th of August she cancelled the rest of her North American tour, saying she would have surgery "to finally fix this once and for all." On the 1st of September she confirmed that the surgery had succeeded and that a six-week recovery lay ahead.

  The year still ended in triumph. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, Trainor won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

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• 6. Mixed Reviews, Big Swings

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  Thank You, her second major-label album, was nearly finished when Trainor spoke to E! Online on the 7th of January 2016. She told MTV News that it was influenced by Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Bruno Mars. The lead single, "No," was produced by Ricky Reed and released on the 4th of March 2016. The R&B song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

  Trouble followed the next single. "Me Too" came out on the 5th of May, and its video appeared four days later. The video was removed the same day because of unapproved digital manipulation of Trainor's body. An unedited version was released the next day. The song peaked at number 13. A performance of it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon drew attention when Trainor fell to the floor while trying to catch hold of a microphone stand.

  Her songwriting for others continued. In 2016 she co-wrote "Ain't Your Mama" for Jennifer Lopez and "You Gotta Not" for Little Mix's album Glory Days. On the 24th of February 2017 she released "I'm a Lady," recorded for the film Smurfs: The Lost Village. In that film she also voiced a character called Smurfmelody.

  Television came next. In December 2017, Fox announced Trainor as a judge on The Four: Battle for Stardom, alongside Sean Combs, DJ Khaled and Charlie Walk. Its first two seasons aired in 2018. In September 2019, ITV announced that she would coach on The Voice UK with will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Olly Murs. That series premiered in 2020.

  Her third album proved harder to deliver. Treat Myself was scheduled for the 31st of August 2018, but Trainor delayed it because she wanted to write and record more songs. It was later given a January 2019 date, and it slipped again. She had written enough material for four albums while trying to adapt to new trends in the music industry. The album finally arrived on the 31st of January 2020. Reviews were mixed, with a Metacritic score of 51 from four reviews. It debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200. Away from the album, her collaboration "Just Got Paid" with Sigala, Ella Eyre and French Montana reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

  Life changed off stage too. Trainor met the actor Daryl Sabara at a house party in Los Angeles in 2014, and they began dating in July 2016. They were engaged on the 22nd of December 2017 and married a year later, on her 25th birthday. A holiday album, A Very Trainor Christmas, followed on the 30th of October 2020. Their first child, a boy, was born on the 8th of February 2021, and in March 2021 she signed an overall deal with NBCUniversal that includes starring in a comedy series.

  In September 2021, a podcast she co-hosts, Workin' on It, premiered on the iHeartPodcast network.

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• 7. Back to Doo-Wop

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  On the 24th of June 2022, Trainor released "Bad for Me," featuring Teddy Swims, as the lead single from her fifth studio album. The day before, she revealed the album's cover and title, Takin' It Back. It was released on the 21st of October 2022 and debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. The second single, "Made You Look," became her first UK top-10 single since "Marvin Gaye." It reached the top five in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

  On the 28th of September 2022, Australia's Seven Network announced that Trainor would judge Australian Idol in 2023. That year she also announced her first book, Dear Future Mama, released on the 25th of April. Kris Jenner appeared in the music video for her single "Mother," from the deluxe edition of Takin' It Back. Collaborations piled up through the year, including "Alright" with Sam Fischer, "Chicken Little" with Spencer Sutherland and "Mr Right" with Mae Stephens. In October she featured on Jason Derulo's "Hands on Me," and Paris Hilton appeared in its video. Her second son was born on the 1st of July 2023.

  The next album, Timeless, began with "Been Like This," a duet with T-Pain released on the 14th of March 2024. It charted at number 40 in the United Kingdom and number 51 in Ireland. The video for the second single, "To the Moon," featured Sabara, their oldest son Riley, Niecy Nash and the influencers Chris Olsen and Brookie and Jessie. The album was released on the 7th of June 2024. It peaked at number 27 on the US Billboard 200, number 12 on the UK Albums Chart and number 23 on the Australian Albums Chart.

  Epic Records first waited for one of the album's songs to gain popularity on TikTok. It then sent "Whoops" to radio stations as the third single on the 24th of June. Its video shows Trainor dancing in an empty room and destroying furniture with a baseball bat. The song charted at number 94 in the UK. In September 2024 she began the Timeless Tour, her first headlining concert tour in over seven years. Natasha Bedingfield, Olsen and Paul Russell were among the special guests.

  The seventh album, Toy with Me, took shape over several singles. "Still Don't Care" arrived on the 12th of November 2025, and "Get in Girl" followed on the 13th of February 2026. In between, on the 20th of January 2026, Trainor announced the birth of her third child and first daughter. The baby was born via surrogate two days earlier. Toy with Me was released on the 24th of April 2026, alongside its third single, "Shimmer."

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• 8. Sound and Image

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  Trainor's father introduced her to 1950s music, doo-wop, jazz and the work of James Brown. At age seven she met soca through her aunt's marriage to the Trinidadian soca singer Burton Toney. She credits 1950s music, soca and Frank Sinatra for shaping her blend of hip hop and pop. Of Sinatra's songwriting she said, "No one writes like that anymore, because it's hard." She also names Stevie Wonder and Phil Collins as inspirations and calls Bruno Mars one of her biggest influences.

  Her hook-laden songs have been compared to those of Brill Building composers such as Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. Trainor plays bass, guitar, ukulele, keyboard, trumpet, percussion and piano. She believes a song's melody matters more than its lyrics. She is an alto, and her vocals have been called "soulful" and "highly resonant." Chris DeVille of Stereogum wrote that she projects lots of character and emotion within a relatively limited range.

  Her lyrics return to womanhood, body image and personal empowerment. Rolling Stone called her 2014's "Most Unlikely Pop Star." In March 2015 she partnered with the plus-size retailer FullBeauty Brands to help create clothing for women with varying body types. Trainor did not identify as a feminist in a 2014 Billboard interview, but two years later she embraced the label. She told The Independent in 2020 that she had been "just... stupid and young." Her mother had advised her not to claim a word she did not understand. In April 2023 she drew controversy by making negative remarks about teachers and announcing that she would homeschool her children. She later apologized.

  Her charity work includes a partnership with the American Cancer Society. In 2018, the British media company Global's charity Make Some Noise invited her to present a check for £77,200 to the charity Reach. During the COVID-19 pandemic she donated funds to feed healthcare professionals in Greater Hartford. She also held a Live At-Home concert series to raise money for Feeding America. On politics, she signed Billboard's open letter demanding an end to gun violence, and in 2017 she publicly supported same-sex marriage.

  Trainor has won four ASCAP Pop Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards and a People's Choice Award. Billboard listed her seventh on its 2015 year-end Top Artists chart and second on Top Female Artists. The magazine also ranked her 40th among the top artists of the 2010s. Most recently, Billboard placed her at number 33 on its 2025 list of the Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century.

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