2014 was a big year for Meghan Trainor. Her debut single, “All About That Bass,” spent eight weeks on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for two Grammys, and her second single “Lips Are Movin'” is currently sitting at number 4 on the Hot 100. However, Meghan Trainor has had a few songwriting credits for other artists in 2014, most notably her co-writing credit for Fifth Harmony’s song “Sledgehammer.” Personally, I think the song has a good beat to it, and a killer chorus (0:49):
If you add a ukelele and slow the song down a bit, it totally could be a song from Title, Trainor’s upcoming album. I’m not suggesting that Fifth Harmony and Meghan Trainor sound the same, but I do think Trainor has been able to keep her songwriting style consistent, which I think may be a hard thing to do.
Personally, I like when singer-songwriters write songs for other artists, and you still feel as though the song is being performed by the writer. For example, I remember the first time I heard “Cannonball” by Lea Michele I was struck by the boldness and thought “huh, it sounds like Sia wrote that song.” Sure enough, a quick Google search revealed that Sia Furler was in fact one of the writers of the song.
This is not to suggest that the performing artists are doing a bad job. I’m trying to say that songwriters have a style, and when that style shines through regardless of who is performing the song, then that’s when magic is created. That’s what Sia did with “Cannonball” and her other songs that she has written. And that’s exactly what Meghan Trainor did with “Sledgehammer.”
