Meghan Trainor headed to town for ‘Jingle Ball’

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Things have moved pretty quickly for singer/songwriter Meghan Trainor, since she came on the music scene while still in high school. While she first was known for penning tracks for such stars as Rascal Flatts, Hunter Hayes, Common Kings and Hot Chelle Rae singer Ryan Follese, it was Trainor’s own debut single, “All About That Bass” that really put her on the map.

Trainor, who heads here for the “103.5 KISS-FM’s Jingle Ball 2014” at the Allstate Arena Thursday night, called recently to chat about that record-breaking single, her fast-rising career and how she approaches the whole realm of today’s contemporary music world. At the Thursday concert, Trainor will be joined by a strong group of already well-established artists, including Demi Lovato, Fall Out Boy, Iggy Azalea, Nick Jonas, Charli XCX, Jessie J and Rita Ora.

Trainor’s “All About That Bass” is a zippy anthem that unapologetically celebrates female self-empowerment and women loving their bodies — a message that has resonated with a lot of fans.

“I was honored that the first thing I was going to tell the world was I love my body type, and so should you,” Trainor said. “I was pretty pumped that could be the first single that I’d put out there that I performed.”

Of course a bit of controversy about the song didn’t hurt, either. “There was a lot of discussion of whether [the message] was positive or not,” she said.

But while Trainor laughed off what she said were many misinterpretations of her song, she is glad that it ultimately made a lot of people pay attention.

“Apparently, I just despise and hate skinny people,” said Trainor with pointed sarcasm. “Apparently, I am geeked about what men want, because of my line in the song about booty. … So those two things which kept getting misinterpreted really helped the song. So out of a negative came a positive.”

While her follow-up single, “Lips Are Moving,” is doing well now, Trainor did worry  if she’d be a “one hit wonder.”

“I’m a confident person and confident about my songwriting, but yes, you do worry about that. I’ve just kept telling people, ‘Trust me. Wait until this album drops. But it doesn’t drop until January 13, so please have patience!”

Trainor also talked about the process of both songwriting and performing the music. “It’s always so interesting to me that other artists will sing what other people write. So many pull it off really well, like Rihanna for example. Something beautiful will be sent to her and she’ll sing it like she wrote those lyrics, but that’s because she picks songs that really connect with her.”

Since Trainor is going to turn 21 on Dec. 22, I had to ask if turning 21 today is as much of a big deal as it was for people years ago — given that kids grow up so fast today and are mature much younger than previous generations.

“Are you kidding! It IS still a big deal. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life! I have my last ‘Jingle Ball’ show in Tampa, Florida, on my birthday. It’s going to be nice. My older brother is flying out from L.A. to meet me there so we can party on my 21st birthday. Then we’ll fly home to Massachusetts for the holidays. Going home is going to be wonderful!”


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