I generally tend to avoid Meghan Trainor like the plague. My experience with “All About that Bass” and “Dear Future Husband,” has been unsavory. But I’m not the only one who feels this way — there have been slews of reviews, blog posts and twitter rants about the singer’s less-than-progressive lyricism. It doesn’t help that she doesn’t think herself to be a feminist.
This idea — that a young woman in the twenty-first century would not consider herself a feminist — is one that I have a difficult time wrapping my head around. But, when looking at Trainor’s aforementioned works, her comment seems less surprising. Just enter “Meghan Trainor feminist” into an online search engine and thousands of articles pop up both praising and critiquing the young artist. Some think that Trainor’s music is undeniably empowering, dishing out love to women who are constantly told by the media that they don’t deserve it. Others have found that behind Trainor’s doo-wop pop lies a harmful message.
For example, much has been said about “All About that Bass” and its double-edged portrayal of women. The track does contain nuggets of meaningful inspiration such as “If you got beauty, beauty just raise ‘em up / ‘Cause every inch of you in perfect from the bottom to the top.” Yes, that’s great, but these lines are quickly undermined by Trainor’s suggestion that a positive body image for women comes from the opinion of men. She sings “Yeah my momma she told me ‘Don’t worry about your size’ / She says ‘Boys like a little more booty to hold at night.’ ” Not to mention her use of the phrase “skinny bitches,”which immediately undermines her “self love” goals. This song just raises a lot of questions for me about Trainor’s intentions and what she was thinking in her execution. Also, what is this “bass” she is all about? And doesn’t she know that booty is already back? Anyway, moving on.
In a similar vein, Trainor’s other huge hit, “Dear Future Husband,” also prompted backlash in reference to the seemingly anti-feminist nature of the track. The lyrics harken back to the prehistoric notion that women should reward men with sex for good behavior and that women are inherently crazy, emotional beings. Critics have found further issue in the songs music video, which shows Trainor almost exclusively in the kitchen, the bedroom or scrubbing floors. This is not to say that women who choose to keep house are doing their gender a disservice, but rather that one’s domesticity should be a choice. And it is just that Trainor seems to leave out of “Dear Future Husband” — the choice;the only way to be a “perfect wife” is to fulfill your household duties.[video:https://youtu.be/ShlW5plD_40]
Jump forward to the present, and Trainor’s “NO” is working to undo some of the negativity perpetuated by her freshman LP’s singles.
[video:https://youtu.be/cMTAUr3Nm6I]
Opening with the same kind of poppy doo-wop, horn-filled melody, it’s not obvious at the start that “NO” will be any different from Trainor’s purely pop sound. But then, in a shocking turn of events, the track breaks into an edgier, slightly rap-influenced chorus. “NO” meshes together a combination of early ’00s diva vocals (think Christina or Britney) and a quasi-rap smattering of lyrics. The sound of the track alone proves that Trainor is capable of much more than she previously let on.
Complementing the bold sound are unflinching lyrics. The track tells a story that many women are familiar with; one of being pursued by a man at a club/party/public place of any kind who’s unable to understand that you aren’t interested in him. Trainor tells it to him straight. She doesn’t beat around the bush; she doesn’t tell him “I have a boyfriend” or “My friends are waiting for me,” because she shouldn’t have to. The song calls out the shallow, stereotypical ploys used in clubs to talk to women, with Trainor providing the only necessary response to unsolicited, surface-level attention — no. The chorus, sung in a sparse style, says all that should have to be said: “My name is no, my sign is no, my number is no / You need to let it go.”
Providing more context to the situation, the verses bring out feminist ideas that earlier seemed foreign to Trainor. Verse two, “Thank you in advance, I don’t wanna dance (nope) / I don’t need your hands all over me / If I want a man, then I’mma get a man / But it’s never my priority / I was in my zone, before you came along / Don’t want you to take this personal,” is no doubt a familiar situation to many women who have gone out dancing with friends. An evening out with friends is just that, an evening of fun, and not an invitation to be accosted. Trainor gives women the right words to use in an often-uncomfortable situation, along with the confidence to say them. The intrepid lyrics are reminiscent of late ’90s and early ’00s pop, in which confident women, either as solo-artists or girl groups, presented the public with anthems of progression. The chorus of “NO” is strikingly similar to the pre-chorus of TLC’s “No Scrubs,” which gently yet forcefully lets listeners know “I don’t want your number (no) / An I don’t wanna give you mine (no) / I don’t wanna meet you nowhere (no) / Don’t want none of your time (no).”
[video:https://youtu.be/FrLequ6dUdM]
“NO” is arguably Trainor’s best track to date. Functioning as a satisfying example of an artist’s growth, it’s fearless, stirringly sung, catchy as hell and, most importantly, void of the problematic lyricism of her past. I may have been wary of Trainor, but she has given me a lesson in the potential dynamism of every artist. Who knows, if her sophomore album is anything like “NO,” she just may make a fan out of me yet.