★★☆☆☆
There is nothing unique about Megan Trainor’s voice to justify her new popularity as a singer, and any character there might have been is removed by auto-tune. The album opens well with ‘The Best Part’, aptly named for it being a small highlight, making use of interesting harmonies. The infamous ‘All About That Bass’ that follows is an undeniably catchy number. It beats many of the other songs on the album which, lacking lyrical or melodic interest, resort to unnecessary key changes and instrumentation.
The lyrics of ‘All About That Bass’ have been praised by some for promoting a positive body image. I have to disagree. If the lyrics are properly listened to, they do not preach empowerment. Trainor explains that men don’t like “skinny bitches”, they like “a bit of booty to hold at night”. Confidence building? I think not. Indeed, in the song ‘Dear Future Husband’, Trainor sings a message of female passivity in ‘Dear Future Husband’, in which she begs him to “tell me everything is going to be alright” and to “buy me a ring”.
Lacking originality, I don’t expect Trainor will have a particularly long career as a performing artist. But perhaps I’m being too generous to music listeners today: maybe she is what we secretly all want to hear. That’s why she’s famous and many far more talented amateur pop musicians are not. Or am I just jealous?
