Mark your calendars for the new Meghan Trainor album, Takin’ It Back, to be released on October 21, 2022. Soundigest has all the info on the “All About That Bass” singer’s return to her roots as well the story behind the Teddy Swims feature in the album’s debut single “Bad For Me.”
Working alongside Gian Stone, Federico Vindver, Sean Douglas, and her little brother Justin Trainor, Meghan put together the album with the intentions of celebrating the sound she got famous on. The star is quoted as saying, “I tried to do the doo-wop feel I had at the beginning of my career, but the 2022 version of it. This is from the new Meghan who is a wife and mom with a baby. This is from me right now. I decided to give the people what they want, but with my spices added to it. I wanted to make my Title 2.0.”
Trainor, who was 20 when her first single soared through the charts, spent some formative years in the spotlight. It’s a human condition to evolve one’s thoughts and work as they grow with experience and Meghan was no exception. The feel of her subsequent albums Thank You and Treat Myself remained in the pop realm, but lacked the swinging sounds of her earlier work. The intentions behind Takin’ It Back were to respect her origins while incorporating what she’s learned from her seven years of life after Title‘s inception. The idea comes across as incredibly relatable to the fans that have grown with her and embarked on their own life journeys.
Takin’ It Back Tracklist
- Sensitive ft. Scott Hoying
- Made You Look
- Takin’ It Back
- Don’t I Make It Look Easy
- Shook
- Bad For Me ft. Teddy Swims
- Superwoman
- Rainbow
- Breezy ft. Theron Theron
- Mama Wanna Mambo ft. Natti Natasha and Arturo Sandoval
- Drama Queen
- While You’re Young
- Lucky
- Dance About It
- Final Breath
Even through the track names, it’s obvious that Trainor has kept her trademark sassy confidence. Titles like “Made You Look” and “Don’t I Make It Look Easy” could’ve easily been a theme featured on her prior work. While I have high hopes that “Mama Wanna Mambo (featuring Natti Natasha and Arturo Sandoval)” will celebrate how she’s enjoying her life now as a mom to her daughter and partner to her husband, Daryl Sabara.
If her new single “Bad For Me” is anything to go by, Meghan has significantly grown and is ready to share it. The lyrics reference family trauma and dealing with it in therapy. Even acknowledging how much she may endlessly love her “blood,” but that she needs to protect her boundaries.
She commented on the song’s beginning saying, “The song is a true story for me. It’s about how I stood up for myself and took a step back from a relationship that was hurting me more than anything. It’s hard to do, but I needed to in order to feel better.”
The harmonies between Trainor and Teddy assimilate beautifully through the song until they run into a powerful duet in the final chorus. The pair’s powerhouse voices remind me of a choir as they belt out, “Please don’t make promises that you can’t keep/Your best intentions end up hurting me.”
Meghan spoke highly of the recording experience and even acknowledged that she’d been waiting to work with a someone like Teddy for a while now. “My dad actually sent me Teddy’s video for ‘Broke’, and I’ve been so obsessed with him ever since. It’s a dream to record with someone who has that good of a voice, and he’s the sweetest guy ever.”
Be prepared to she the enigmatic chemistry between the two singers for yourself. The pair will be performing Bad For Me for the first time ever on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight, Friday, June 24th.
While you wait for the live version, celebrate the GRAMMY® Award winner’s triumphant return to our earbuds by watching the video for the single below.
