Meghan Trainor - Thank You

The Guardian 40

(Sony)

After the mega-selling All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor’s second major-label album is supposedly influenced by Elvis, Aretha Franklin and, er, Olly Murs. One can imagine the King purring the acoustic Just a Friend in one of his bad films, but there’s lots of trademark Trainor: butt-wobbling, retro R&B and ostensible female-empowerment anthems that on closer inspection pander to the male gaze. In Woman Up – a reworking of Ashley Roberts’ 2014 flop, by the same writing-production team – the 22-year-old suggests, “Put your favourite heels on, ’cos they make you feel strong.” On her recent hit No she rebuts unwanted male advances with a swing of her hips. Contradictions abound as dance pop hurtles into Caribbean flavours and romantic mush. The funky I Love Me is a bit self-help-manual-with-beats, but Trainor sounds joyously empowered. Ultimately, much of Thank You is a bit of a hotchpotch, after her initial efforts were rejected and main producer Ricky Reed called on to conjure up some hits.

Fri May 27 00:00:00 GMT 2016

The Guardian 20

(Epic)

Much of Thank You – the follow-up to 2015’s 2m-selling Title – finds Meghan Trainor ditching her All About That Bass doo-wop shtick in favour of 90s chart R&B. Unfortunately, the core problem remains – Trainor just isn’t a convincing pop star. While the Britney-lite lead single No has its moments, most of the other songs are identity-free filler. Me Too’s bragging (“If I was you I’d wanna be me too”), for example, sounds misplaced, while the toe-curling “anthem” Woman Up (“You’re more than good enough”) is plain embarrassing. Just when you think things can’t get worse, however, Mom shows up, featuring a cameo from her actual mum, Kelli. No thank you.

Fri May 27 00:00:00 GMT 2016