walking upstream…
Meghan Trainor
photo: macy (spuffy) · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Meghan Trainor
Meghan Trainor is a Nantucket-raised singer-songwriter who broke through in 2014 with the a cappella-flavored, doo-wop-bounced 'All About That Bass,' a body-positivity anthem that topped charts worldwide off the strength of its throwback bassline and finger-snap groove. She built a career on unabashedly retro pop songcraft -- '50s and '60s vocal-group harmony, hip-hop's low end, and Motown-bounce hooks -- carrying that sound through 'Lips Are Movin',' 'Dear Future Husband,' and, a decade later, 2024's 'Timeless,' an album explicitly built to revisit her doo-wop roots.
the sound in question
2014
All About That BassMeghan Trainor
walk the tributaries ↓
Bruno Mars2010s · Pop / Funk / R&B / Soul
Trainor has named Bruno Mars among her biggest influences and said his 2010 breakout single directly inspired the sound and stance of her own debut hit -- retro soul-pop swagger built for pop radio rather than a period pastiche.
listen: upstream & here
2010
Just the Way You AreBruno Mars
2014
All About That BassMeghan Trainor
listen forListen for the same trick in both records: a warm, uptempo throwback groove (doo-wop bounce for Trainor, gentle island-soul strum for Mars) wrapped around a totally contemporary, love-yourself-as-you-are lyric and a huge, simple, everyone-can-sing chorus.
Dion1960s · Doo-wop / Rock and roll / Pop
Trainor has cited early-'60s doo-wop standards like Dion's 'Runaround Sue' as records she grew up on, and the walking bassline and vocal-percussion bounce of her own 'Dear Future Husband' directly echo that record's arrangement.
listen: upstream & heresource: Same That Tune -- 'Dear Future Husband' vs. Dion's 'Runaround Sue' side-by-side ↗
1961
Runaround SueDion
2015
Dear Future HusbandMeghan Trainor
listen forListen for the shared skeleton: a strutting, syncopated bassline carrying the whole groove, close harmony 'oohs' standing in for horns, and a lyric sung with the same playful, accusatory bravado Dion used to call out his girl.
The Beach Boys1960s · Rock / Pop / Psychedelic pop
In an NPR interview about her debut album, Trainor singled out the Beach Boys for how they built 'big choruses that weren't melodically up very high' -- catchy enough that any listener, regardless of range, could sing along -- and said that principle shaped how she wrote her own hooks.
listen: upstream & heresource: NPR (2015) -- Trainor on doo-wop, 'Runaround Sue,' and the Beach Boys' 'big choruses that weren't melodically up very high' ↗
1965
Barbara AnnThe Beach Boys
2015
Better When I'm Dancin'Meghan Trainor
listen forListen for a chorus that sits in a narrow, easy-to-shout vocal range and leans on repetition and group-vocal call-and-response rather than a big melodic leap -- the same 'everyone in the car can sing it' construction the Beach Boys used on their surf-pop singalongs.