“You know how the bass guitar in a song is like its ‘thickness,’ the ‘bottom’? I kind of related a body to that,” Meghan Trainor mused to Billboard in 2014 after her debut hit, “All About That Bass,” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 that July.
Kevin Kadish, who wrote and produced the song with Trainor, “had the title and said that none of his prior co-writers could figure out what to relate that to,” she noted. “So, I said, ‘What about a booty? Let’s talk about that!’ From there, it turned into, ‘Let’s do a song about loving your body … and your booty.’ ”
Mixing pop with retro R&B/Motown and elements of tropical, all of which influenced Trainor growing up on the island of Nantucket, Mass., “All About That Bass” ruled the Hot 100 for eight weeks, consecutively, beginning on the chart dated Sept. 20, 2014.
One of the song’s lyrics especially caused a stir socially: “I’m bringing booty back. Go ahead and tell them skinny b—-es!” “Even with some of the ‘hate’ comments I’ve seen, they’ve gotten a conversation going,” Trainor told Billboard at the time. “But, I’m not bashing skinny girls. Some girls have commented, ‘I’m a size zero, so you must hate me.’ But that’s not it at all! There have been battles on my YouTube page, like, ‘You don’t know what she’s talking about. She’s actually saying, ‘I know even you skinny girls struggle.’ ’ And that’s exactly how I feel.
“I wrote it for me, as well, because I’ve struggled with [body image] since I was very young,” Trainor shared in 2014. “And, my best friend is a beautiful goddess, but she’ll pick on herself in the mirror. ‘My forehead’s too big,’ or, ‘My shoulders go out too far …’ So, if other girls can relate to the song, it makes me feel even better. It’s unreal that I’m kind of helping people.”
Trainor’s first LP, Title, topped the Billboard 200 for a week in January 2015. She became the lucky 13th woman to earn a debut a No. 1 album and Hot 100 song in the more than half-century that the charts have coexisted. Others to achieve such double domination include Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears.
Trainor was also crowned best new artist at the Grammy Awards in February 2016.
Title yielded two more Hot 100 top 10s: “Lips Are Movin” (No. 4 peak) and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” featuring John Legend (No. 8). Trainor added a fourth top 10, “No” (No. 3, 2016), among eight career top 40 hits, most recently “Made You Look” in 2023.
Trainor notched a second Billboard 200 top 10, the No. 3-peaking Thank You, in 2016. Her sixth and most recent top 40 entry, Timeless, debuted at its No. 27 high this June. The set’s deluxe version arrived in August and current single “Whoops” ranks at its Nos. 19 and 27 bests on the Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay charts (dated Sept. 21), respectively. Plus, the album’s “Criminals,” as featured in Netflix’s The Perfect Couple, bows at No. 19 on Digital Song Sales.
Trainor has additionally co-written two No. 1s on the Country Airplay chart: “I Like the Sound of That,” which Rascal Flatts took to the top in 2016, and “Road Less Traveled,” a leader for Lauren Alaina in 2017. “Since my father [Gary] is a musician, as well, he wanted me to be a songwriter that can do any genre. I’m all about doing every genre,” she said in 2014. “So, at one point he said, ‘Girl, give me some country cuts!’ I said, ‘All right, Dad, I’ll get you those country cuts, not a problem!’”
Trainor’s mother, Kelli, has even charted a hit with her daughter: Their “Mom” reached Digital Song Sales after Mother’s Day in 2020.
Trainor has also forged an extensive TV presence, including as an advisor on NBC’s The Voice in 2015, and released her first book, Dear Future Mama, in 2023. Her The Timeless Tour began on Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 19 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Trainor is still signed to Epic Records, which released and promoted “All About That Bass.” The song has drawn 4.9 billion in radio audience and 1.1 billion on-demand U.S. streams and sold 5.8 million downloads to date, according to Luminate.
“When I got my record deal, and with this song, I was like, ‘Perfect, I have the opportunity to say something to the world.’ I’ll take it,” Trainor shared in 2014. “This is the best message I could say.”
