Meghan Trainor is using some of her favourite entertainers as a guide for her own career.
The Grammy-winning performer exudes shades of her musical inspiration on tracks like “All About That Bass,” which taps into the peppy innocence of the 1958 hit “Lollipop,” sung by the Chordettes.
Trainor says her latest single “No” found its footing with a few sultry introductory chords that pay tribute to Gloria Gaynor’s disco mainstay “I Will Survive.”
In the lead up to the release of Trainor’s upcoming album “Thank You” on Friday, she spoke to The Canadian Press about five performers who inspire her:
Bruno Mars
“(He’s a) songwriter first. He came out as an artist and destroyed the game, never looked back. Performing, writing, producing, being a good person, he kills it.”
Beyonce
“She’s at a place where she does whatever she wants … instead of being told — like I am still by album two — ‘No, you’ve gotta try again.’ Beyonce’s like, ‘No, this is what I enjoy.’ Hopefully by round three it’ll be a little more like that (for me). I do love all my songs, but it’s still being told what to put out.”
James Brown
“I’ve been watching his documentaries a lot, his live performances. Have you seen a full show? It’s exhausting! I want to throw up watching it, I’m sweating while watching it. My favourite part about him, which I would never do, is when his band messes up, he’s still performing and he goes, ‘Five, that’s five dollars off your pay.’ That’s so cool that even though he couldn’t play that many instruments or any instruments, he was like, ‘I can hear your mess up.'”
Michael Jackson
“Just how much he was involved with every music video, every photo shoot, every production. I didn’t know any of that. I’ve been watching recently because I’m like, ‘Am I doing too much stuff?’ I’m involved in every little thing you see (in my career). I looked it up because I was like, ‘Am I alone?’ and I was like, ‘No, that’s what Michael did. You’re doing the right thing.’ That’s what the big artists who have that longevity and have that long career, that’s what they do. So I know I’m doing something right when I’m involved, and I’m not overstepping my place. That’s my name on that, whatever goes out there, I’ve gotta make sure it’s good.”
Chloe Grace Moretz (actress)
“I’m her biggest fan and she knows that because every time I see her I just fangirl for 20 minutes. I’ve been watching her since — oh, that’s creepy — I’ve been watching her since she did her first movie, that one with Ryan Reynolds, ‘The Amityville Horror.’ I even watched the behind the scenes. She has been so dedicated (to her craft) and such a good actress. I think she’ll be the (female) version of Leonardo DiCaprio one day, I swear, she’s that good to me.”
— This interview has been edited and condensed.
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