Review: Meghan Trainor drops 1950’s style Bops on Her New Album Takin’ It Back

Pop artist Meghan Trainor has done it again with her new album, Takin’ It Back, mixing modern pop sounds with older 1950’s beats. The album features 16 songs with a variety of selections; from fast-paced “Let me love you” songs to slow and steady love songs. Trainer dropped this album on Oct. 21, the same day as a handful of other mainstream artists’ new album drops. Since the album was released alongside others, Trainor’s album fell flat. Only one song has been in the top 100 because she has advertised “Made You Look” 24/7 on Tiktok.

 
            The first song that I truly fell in love with is “Bad for Me (feat. Teddy Swims).” This song is a slow, easy to listen to bop that lyrically discusses toxic family members and having to respectfully cut them off. The song is a beautiful ballad. Teddy Swim’s voice is warm and feels like a hug when he starts to sing. Trainor sings, “Your best intentions end up hurting me. No matter what I’ll love you endlessly but I gotta run from your reality. I know we’re blood but this love is bad for me.”

            Trainor has recently become a mother to a beautiful boy named Riley. He is a toddler now and definitely a handful for Trainor and her husband. In her song “Superwoman” she talks about wanting to be able to do it all. Being a parent, you can’t always do everything you want; your child and their well-being always comes first. This song is also a ballad and is a gorgeous song about the struggles of being a mom. I love this song and appreciate how much Trainor shares about her personal life and struggles being a parent.

            Another song that I really enjoyed is “Don’t I Make It Look Easy.” Trainor is discussing how influencers make life look easier than it really is. Even being a celebrity has its ways of fooling the public, making everything look easy. Having a celebrity like Trainor be honest about her experiences is what the world needs. At the end of the day, we are all human.

            There is a laundry list of songs I did not like. One that I felt was repetitive and highly annoying was “Shook.” First problem is that it uses a slang term and references having sex throughout the entire song. I have never been a huge fan of slang especially when it’s repeated over at least 30 times in the song.

            The song that Trainor picked to be her radio hit, “Made You Look” is unreasonable, does not sound great and is just lyrically annoying. I have heard the song nonstop everywhere and it is not what Trainor thinks it is. I like the idea that it is pushing but not everyone can afford to own the items she states in the song.

            The last song I really had a problem with was “Breezy (feat. Theron Theron).” The annunciation of the word “Breezy” just sounds so nasty. The song isn’t to my taste and the strong accent on “Breezy” just makes me uncomfortable.

            All in all, Trainor did a great job keeping to her original sound. The 1950’s style of music suits her voice and her looks. Her choice to go with a live band versus a digital one also stood out to me as a plus. Not many artists choose to go natural instead of digital. I applaud her for her efforts to keep music as authentic as possible.