Meghan Trainor

Even before she dropped her debut single in 2014, Meghan Trainor already had it made. By that point, the 20-year-old Nantucket native had achieved the dream of many aspiring singer/songwriters: to infiltrate the inner sanctum of Nashville’s Music Row. But as it turns out, co-writing songs for country stars like Rascal Flatts and Hunter Hayes was the warm-up for what came next. Upon its release in the summer of 2014, Trainor’s first solo single, “All About That Bass,” swiftly became the most inescapable pop earworm of the year, thanks to a rump-shaking, retro-R&B sound that filled the void vacated by the late Amy Winehouse and a then-dormant Adele. But not only did the song transform Trainor into an instant, cross-generational pop star, its celebration of plus-size physiques made her a spokesmodel for body positivity at a time when there were few such role models in the entertainment industry. (And that motivational ethos would make her a natural choice to judge singing-competition shows like The Voice UK.) With the release of the full-length Title in 2015, Trainor became just the 13th woman in pop history to have both her first single and first album go to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, but on the follow-up, Thank You, she proved she was no mere throwback artist, as singles like “Me Too” and “No” updated her old-school aesthetic for modern-day dance floors. And on 2020’s Treat Myself, she further immersed herself in contemporary club sounds, applying her Aretha-sized sass to the synth-pumped thump of “No Excuses” and EDM-washed “Wave.” But even as her muse has drifted from Motown to Minaj (who turns up on the ASMR&B duet “Nice to Meet Ya”), Trainor’s self-help mission remains on course. “Every message that I give when I’m writing songs, it’s all to me,” she told Apple Music, where she also hosts Dirty Pop Radio. “I keep listening to these songs and I keep having to remind myself, ‘baby girl, love yourself.’” Trainor’s ongoing success lies in her ability to find new and creative ways to translate those personal affirmations into communal anthems.