Meghan Trainor talks new album Thank You, Grammys backlash and working with her mum - Interview

For her latest single No, Meghan Trainor has brought the best of early Noughties US pop back to centre stage - and yes, that includes a snappy dance routine in an "abandoned" warehouse.

The song heads up her upcoming second album Thank You, the follow-up to her chart topping debut Title. Ahead of its release, we (and a room of other journalists) had chat with her about the collection and her rise worldwide fame in just two years. Below are the questions we put to her...

Hi Meghan! You’ve changed up your sound and image pretty dramatically for your new single No; did it feel like you were taking a bit of a risk with this release?

Yes it really did. Before I wrote and recorded No, I was being told by my label that I didn’t have a lead single. My producer (Ricky Reed) and I said, ‘let’s make a beat that Meghan Trainor wouldn’t do,’ and this is what came out. We were producing and writing it at the same time, and with the guitar bit, I said I wanted it to be like [Britney Spears’] Overprotected, Destiny’s Child, N*Sync… There is a fear that it’s been done before, and whether I could bring it back because no-one has done that yet. Austin Mahone tried to a while ago and I loved it, but it didn’t blow up.


I was worried people would hear No and write it off as '90s thing, but on the other half, I thought this is what I want to hear on the radio. What do I miss on the radio? I miss hearing N*Sync and Britney Spears coming on, and they were all produced by Max Martin, and I loved that.

Growing up listening to those sort of artists, is it scary that they're now old enough to be deemed ‘nostalgia'?

I know right! Those songs are how I learned to sing and make harmonies – those songs are my jams.

The song ‘Mom’ on the album actually features your mum Kelli. How does that work in the studio? Did you have to give her notes?

Oh no, she would never allow that! With that session, I wrote and produced the song with my little brother at home. I then took it to this big producer called Johan Carlsson who I love, and I asked him to beef it up. We re-wrote the verses and beefed up the production with real horns, because it’s a doo-wop-y song, but we didn’t have bridge for it. He suggested we call her up and record her on a big microphone, so I called her and said, ‘I really love you mum… tell me how much you love me!’, and we recorded her response and cut it up. I’ve played it to a few people and they just break.

Despite writing and being heavily involved in the making of your songs, you were given a bit of a hard time over winning a Grammy earlier this year. Do you feel as though you’re always having to prove yourself as a popstar?


I actually had my phone hacked after the Grammys. I remember the night of the awards the best of my life, and Miguel actually came up to me and said, ‘Just wait until tomorrow, because you’ll realise it’s not just a dream’. I woke up to two texts saying ‘You fat c**t, you don’t deserve that award, please give it back’, so I was like, I don’t feel better today, yesterday was much better than today thanks! I didn’t want to let it affect me, but it so did, and it really hurt. I’m over it now, and when the award itself arrives it will be like a new gift I know I deserve.

Originally posted by Notorious K.E.N

Poor Almighty Gaga

OT: She did great