“I do TikTok myself, and it’s very stressful. I’m not very good at it,” she admits via phone from Los Angeles where she was about to start tour rehearsals. “I’m definitely nervous about the tour, but I have to remind myself that I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been even after two kids. I learned to work out and eat correctly. I know how to take vitamins and not get sick anymore. That was my biggest fear. I also know how to take care of my voice now.”
She’s particularly excited about the new show’s production values.
“I finally got to see what the show will look like, and it’s unbelievable,” she enthusiastically says. “There is a lift that I haven’t used, and I will have to buckle myself in. I will look like a real superstar. I’m telling you.”
Trainor hasn’t been idle during the past few years. She kicked off 2023 by joining the judging panel of Australian Idol . She also released Takin’ It Back (Deluxe) , which features three new songs including the new single “Mother.” To celebrate the holiday season, Trainor teamed up with talk show host Jimmy Fallon to release the playful collaboration, “Wrap Me Up,” and she made her literary debut with Dear Future Mama , a humorous guide to pregnancy and motherhood (she had just given birth to her second child with husband Daryl Sabara.
Handling the stress of keeping her career moving forward and having a family hasn’t been easy.
“Oh, therapy is a wonderful thing once a week and anti-depressants are my best friends,” she says when about how she's balanced her various commitments. “I have therapy once a week. Having a good supportive family and supportive team is key to success. I meet a lot of people in this career who say that I’m so lucky to have a good family and team. They’re my angels. I keep them close.”
Her new album, Timeless , features some undeniably great pop tunes, ranging from the doo-wop anthem “Been Like This” to the bass-heavy banger “To the Moon.”
“Well, I wanted to outdo myself and do the old-school pop thing with a modern sound but at another level,” she says of her approach on the new album. “I wanted it to bring it back to old school and show you the beauty of it but then be like, ‘We in the club. Did you see that coming?’ Every time, I’m on stage, I want to dance my ass off and be the pop star I always wanted to be. I have six beautiful dancers who will hold my hand, and my younger brother is doing all the music, so it’ll be a big family affair.”
Working out of a studio in her home (she literally had to crawl down the stairs to get to the basement to record because she was recovering from her pregnancy), she began writing new tunes right after giving birth.
“It was 11 days after my second C-section,” she says. “I first wrote ‘Forget How To Love’ because I saw so much hate online, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community. The song is about how we need to hate less in general and be nicer to everyone. Everyone is being so loud online. Nothing was going to stop me from getting down to that studio.”
“Been Like This” and “Love on Hold” find her working her idol T-Pain and embracing hip-hop.
"T-Pain is my hero and has been my hero since middle school," she says. "He can really rhyme and make the background vocals as important at the lead. He taught me so much. I got to play him this new album and tell him he inspired a lot of it. He thought that was crazy.”
The Amy Winehouse-like “I Wanna Thank Me,” another album highlight, serves as a tribute to actress Niecy Nash.
“That was one of the last songs I wrote for the album,” Trainor says of the tune. “I saw the viral clip. I asked for inspiration and I got with my writer J Kash, who did my songs ‘Me Too’ and ‘No.’ He does these confident bangers. We wrote it in 45 minutes and had the best day ever. I sent it to [Nash] that day, and she sent me a video of her sobbing when listening to it. She came over and sang on it with her daughter and her wife. It was the best day I’ll ever have.”
Trainor says that when she got signed as a songwriter, she assumed that meant that people were telling her in a nice way that didn’t have what it takes to sing her own songs.
“My favorite thing is writing for other artists,” she says. “I have so many plaques in my house for songs I wrote for Rascal Flatts and J. Lo. I’m really proud of those accomplishments.”
Her 2014 hit song “All About That Bass,” however, established Trainor as a pop superstar who could sing her own damn tunes.
“I had crazy work day at the time when I found out 'All About That Bass' was No. 1,” she says. “I landed at the airport in Australia, and I called my parents and told them that it was No. 1 on some list. I sobbed my eyes out, and people thought I must’ve had a death in the family because I was crying so hard. I was really happy and couldn’t believe it.”
Her career has skyrocketed, making Trainor into a superstar. And while many high-profile musicians don’t want to talk politics, Trainor unabashedly promotes equality and tolerance without invoking partisanship.
“It’s all about voting and equality for everyone,” she says. “It’s all about love. We simply need to spread more love than hate.”
Meghan Trainor, Paul Russell, Ryan Trainor. 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, Blossom, 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 330-920-8040. Tickets: $35.30+, livenation.com.
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