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Fiery new single 'No' was a late addition to 'Thank You'
Her new single came after she went to play the album for Epic head L.A. Reid. She was excited to preview the material — until he told her she didn’t have anything that sounded like a first single.
“L.A. is famous for this, he will always sit down the artist at the very end and say you don’t have a single,” she says with a laugh. “He didn’t do this with my first one [2015’s ‘Title’] because I came in with ‘All About That Bass,’ but on this one he did. I told him I’m not going to write ‘All About That Bass’ 2.0. — I’m not going to give you another one of those. He was like, ‘I’m not asking for that, I promise, but I know you as a songwriter can do better and I know if I push you, you will do better.’ Trainor left the meeting angry, she said, but she took that energy and unleashed it on “No.” “We wrote this fiery anthem,” she said, “and it turned into a great women’s anthem.”
Recording 'No' changed the direction of the album
Although “No,” was originally meant to appease her label boss, the session with Reed, who is executive producing the album, inspired the two to keep going.
“We did like six more records after this,” Trainor said. “It was like unlocking a new world. My manager once called me an onion and said I have layers that I need to open and see. I guess this is another layer of my onion.” Trainor said the later sessions yielded what will be the album’s next singles. “They line up and go perfectly together,” she said.
She’s trying out different sounds — but the ukulele is here to stay
While “Title” had flashes of syrupy doo-wop, girl group-flavored pop, old school hip-hop and R&B, Trainor is exploring different sonics for her sophomore effort.
“It’s so different from the first one,” she said. “There’s a new hip-hop/urban sound, where I rap more; there’s the classic just me and a guitar sound — on a song called ‘Hopeless Romantic’ — and you’ll have me and the ukulele, I didn’t throw away the uke yet.” Trainor also teased an old school number called "Dance Like Your Daddy,” a song written for her mother and said the album will close with the title track. “It’s definitely a Meghan Trainor album, but it’s a more grown up, matured, intense Meghan Trainor,” she said.
Don’t expect her to fully ditch doo-wop
While the saccharine doo-wop harmonies made her debut a breezy, retro throwback, Trainor said it’s not going to be a throughline of “Thank You” — even if it took some convincing.
“I had three songs I really felt like could be the first single. I just knew they would be worldwide smashes — and they were doo-wopy,” Trainor explained. “My team said they were great but exactly what people will expect. I felt like why would you fix something that’s not broken? But they knew I had it in me. They’ve heard all the sounds I can do and all the songs that I’ve written that even the world hasn’t heard. I didn’t know if it would work, but I did it. And I even blew myself away. I didn’t know I had it in me. I guess it takes a little pissing me off.” Trainor didn’t completely eschew the sound, though, she confirmed there will be plenty of doo-wop on the deluxe version of the album.
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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...htmlstory.html
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