Title is the upcoming debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor.
The album serves as a replacement of Trainor's 2014 extended play of the same name, and is made up of a standard 11-track edition and deluxe edition with four extra songs. It was predominantly written and composed by Trainor and Kevin Kadish, and produced by the latter. Other collaborators on the album include Chris Gelbuda and Jesse Frasure, while John Legend and Shy Carter serve as its only featured artists. Title was developed as a “very honest” album for all ages, with “very honest” storylines. It reflects on changes in Trainor's life and in her artistic process, and is intended as a source of empowerment for youth. Sonically, Title was inspired by Trainor's love for throwback style records, and the 1950s and 1960s eras in music. She honed the album's sound by incorporating different combinations of genres, including: Caribbean, doo-wop, hip hop, soca and pop, among others.
Review
“All About That Bass” spread throughout the globe with the speed of a
pandemic disease, and its viral nature neatly camouflaged how Meghan Trainor was
no naïve ingénue. She landed a publishing deal at the age of 18 and had one
of her songs recorded by pop-country superstars Rascal Flatts, show-biz bona
fides that belied her Internet sensation status. Title, Trainor's full-length
debut, suggests this tactic was deliberate: snag an audience via a near-novelty,
then rely on her well-honed craft for the rest of the record. Certainly, echoes
of “All About That Bass” can be heard throughout Title, particularly in how
she and her chief collaborator Kevin Kadish balance a love of old-fashioned girl
group pop with old-school hip-hop, but the cumulative effect of the
album's 15 tracks is to shift attention away from her cutesy style to her
songwriting skills. Admittedly, Trainor is eager to embrace her enthusiasm for
musical theater – she's the first post-Glee pop star, consciously putting on
a show as she sways between rapped verses and cabaret choruses, liberally
borrowing from Dion's “Runaround Sue” for “Dear Future Husband,” making
sure that she laughs after delivering a pun on her own last name – but over
the course of a record the affectations don't seem quite as potent as they do
when they're distilled to a single. By the time the record winds its way around
to the Motown bounce of “Lips Are Movin” – a single equally inspired by
vintage 45s and Amy Winehouse's snazzy new-millennial revival that's the best
song here – Trainor's giddiness has become ingratiating, so it's easier to
warm to her considerable skill at pastiche and performance. Far from consigning
her to one-hit wonder territory, the blend of strength of personality and
music-biz savvy on Title shows that Meghan Trainor is clever enough to parlay a
big hit into a real career. Stephen Thomas Erlewine – Allmusic.com