2014 has been a big year for Meghan Trainor. Meghan was catapulted from obscurity to overnight success when her polarizing debut single
All About That Bass became one of the biggest hits this year, and her second single
Lips Are Movin is already a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. While people are quick to dismiss Meghan Trainor as another talentless pop-tart who will fade back into obscurity à la Carly Rae Jepsen, what many don't know is that Meghan Trainor didn't come out of nowhere: she has quietly been hard at work writing and producing music since the age of 13. Let's take a look at Meghan's journey to stardom through some rare videos and photos:
On her Sonicbids biography, written when she was 17, Meghan describes writing and performing music since the age of 13.
She states that she writes all of her own lyrics and plays all of her own instruments, which include the keyboard, guitar, ukulele, trumpet, and auxiliary percussion (bongos).She has attended Berklee College of Music's Performance Program, and has won multiple songwriting awards, including being named Best Female Artist at the International Acoustic Music Awards for her song "Waterfalls" and winning the grand prize in the New Orleans Songwriting Festival contest in 2010.
In this video published on YouTube in February 2013, Meghan describes getting signed to Nashville's Big Yellow Dog as a songwriter during her senior year of high school.
When asked about her career 5 years on in the next video, Meghan says, "I think I'm going to be a songwriter but I want to be a performer when I'm older."
As a performer, Meghan plays "adorable Colbie Caillat stuff" but when she writes songs it could be "Rihanna fist-pump." Despite being signed to a Nashville publisher, Meghan clarifies:
"I do dance-pop ... I don't do country at all, really." Talking more about her future in the music industry, Meghan says,
"I think I wanna do the crazy, fun Kesha stuff, and then I'll surprise them and be like, 'Wait, I can actually play an instrument and sing.' I think that's genius."Meghan goes on to talk about having worked with Max Martin, stanning for Kelly Clarkson, and LA Reid hearing her music.
At the 5:20 mark, the interviewer asks her, "So Katy Perry doesn't write any of those songs?" Meghan responds, "No, Katy Perry will help, but not really, because artists nowadays are trying to take my job and they're trying to write with the big songwriters so now they get credit for writing."In this last video, Meghan sings two of her songs and talks about the inspiration behind those songs.
Proof of Meghan Trainor's hustle dates back to when she was just 16. In April 2010, Meghan released her single "Take Care of Our Soldiers." All proceeds of the song went to The USO and Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops.
Meghan even performed the song with her then-boyfriend on FOX Boston News.
They also performed at the Nantucket Music Festival that year...
...and then again at the New York Songwriters Circle at the Bitter End in New York City.
And here's a bonus photo of Meghan with her high school boyfriend:
In February 2011, Meghan self-released her 2nd album, "I'll Sing With You," which was written, performed, and produced by her.
In September 2011, Meghan self-released her 3rd album, "Only 17," which was also written, performed, and produced by her.
In 2012, Meghan Trainor performed at the Cape Cod Women's Music Festival.
Here's a song about weed that Meghan Trainor wrote for another artist in 2013.
Here's another bop that Meghan Trainor wrote for legendary Italian singer Raffaella Carra!
more songs and old photos of Meghan can be found on her Facebook and Sonicbids pages!SOURCES
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