REVIEW: Meghan Trainor – ‘Title’

January 14th, 2015

Matthew Leimkuehler

Artist: Meghan Trainor
Album: Title
Genre: Pop
Label: Epic Records

Meghan Trainor has the poise, swagger and talent to take over the world as we know it. Launching herself into pop stardom with sensational 2014 hit “All About That Bass,” Trainor showed the world, through light-hearted melodies and a positive attitude, that pop music can have a vivacious diva…with a few curves. The song is fun, the song is catchy, the song is downright irresistible. “All About That Bass” took over the Western world.

With that in mind, standards for Trainor’s debut LP, Title, which dropped this week, are undoubtedly high. Can she deliver on the level of “All About That Bass” for 45 minutes to an hour? Is this girl’s magnetic sass and lovable attitude captured in just one song? Can she compete with pop world tyrants the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry? After hearing Title, listeners can argue one way or the other on all of the above questions. Yes, Trainor is here to stay. Songs like “Dear Future Husband,” “Lips Are Movin'” and “Title” tell us that.

Those songs show us that there is more to Meghan Trainor than one good pop hook — sure. Each song captures an essence of stunning style it so sorely needs. It’s not electronic-driven or frequency heavy. The songs are simple and backed by a band. It’s pop music the way pop forefathers would want to hear pop music — freeing and with a natural feeling, the electronics aren’t controlling the music; her hooks do that just fine. That’s where Trainor is strongest, when her pop hooks meet a fast, smooth, melodic delivery. There should be no doubt that Title contains some utterly undeniable pop gems.

With the likes of monster hit “All About That Bass” and “Lips Are Movin'” are pop gems ready to stand the test of pop culture time, but there are numbers on Title that miss timelessness and sustainability all together. Songs like “No Good For You,” “3am,” and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” are tasteless and boring. It’s as though the tracks on Title that are good…are amazingly good. And the tracks that are terrible…just don’t cut it at all. I have trouble finding the middle ground in the record. With a song such as “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” I think the only thing that gets lost is the listener, in the slow, monotonous drawl of the track. It just doesn’t suit the persona of Trainor. Sure, it shows a bit of diversity from a songwriting standpoint, but it just doesn’t have the impact that other tracks on the records achieve so flawlessly.

To put it simply — songs like “What If I” lack the Trainor gleam that tracks like “Walkashame” capture with vibrance.

Meghan Trainor’s debut LP, Title, is an overall strong debut. She has seen more success off of one song featured on the record than most will see in a lifetime, and that’s commendable. The songs that are good are as addictive as any pop lover would want their pop music to be. There are a handful of tracks you don’t want to sleep on — but there are also a handful that will find the skip button every time the record is played. Embrace the bubblegum nature of it and just have fun.

It’s certainly the soundtrack to a good time.

SCORE: 7/10
Written by Matthew Leimkuehler (@callinghomematt)