All About That Bass

“Let’s write an awesome song”. Meghan Trainor wrote songs for other artists, but when she entered the studio to write ‘All About That Bass’, she was writing for herself. In an interview with radio.com, Trainor said: “I don’t know what happened. Let’s just write an awesome song instead of pretending I’m Rihanna for a second. And then the song happened and it was amazing. We knew it was special, but we didn’t know how.” The inspiration behind the lyric “My mama she told me don’t worry about your size…” is Trainor’s mom. Trainor said: “She always is telling me, ‘You’re gorgeous. Girls just destroy themselves in front of the mirrors, I don’t look as good as everyone else, I can’t wear this,’ but she’s like, ‘You need to stop, you’re gorgeous.’ So I stopped.” When talking to Billboard, Meghan explained the origins of the song, she said: “That’s the best part. I remember when we pitched it as songwriters, everyone was like, ‘The chorus isn’t a big chorus.’ You know how every pop song has that huge chorus? We were like, ‘No, that’s the catchiest part of the song! That’s our chorus and we don’t want to change it’, so we kept it, and that’s everyone’s favorite part.” Trainor then talked about how she came up with the title, saying: “You know how the bass guitar in a song is like its ‘thickness’, the ‘bottom’? I kind of related a body to that. My producer Kadish had the title and said that none of his prior co-writers could figure out what to relate that to. So, I said, ‘What about a booty? Let’s talk about that!’ From there, it turned into, let’s do a song about loving your body … and your booty.” The single promotes positive body image and sends a message about being comfortable in your own skin. “I wrote it for me, as well, because I’ve struggled with ‘body image’ since I was very young. And, my best friend is a beautiful goddess, but she’ll pick on herself in the mirror. ‘My forehead’s too big’, or ‘my shoulders go out too far’ … So, if other girls can relate to the song, it makes me feel even better. It’s unreal that I’m kind of helping people.”

Release date

Released on June 30, 2014

Songwriter/s

Meghan Trainor – Kevin Kadish

Label

Epic

Chart Rankings

US – 1

UK – 1

GERMANY  – 1

In the UK, ‘All About That Bass’ topped the UK Singles Charts; it became the longest-running number one and the second fastest selling single in the UK in 2014.  It generated 1.18 million streams during its first six weeks of availability, and 90% were through Spotify. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it double platinum for sales over 1.2 million copies. In the US, ‘All About That Bass’ peaked at number one and spent 25 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10, becoming the 10th song to achieve this milestone.  It was the longest running Billboard Hot 100 number one by a female artist and became the longest running Billboard Hot 100 number one by an Epic Records artist after it topped the charts for eight consecutive weeks.  It is one of six singles, and the sole debut single, to spend 15 weeks in the top two in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it nine times platinum for sales over 4.6 million copies. It’s also the fourth best selling song in the US with 4.38 million copies sold in 2014. The single topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. ‘All About That Bass’ reached the top 10 charts in 13 countries including Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, and Sweden. It was certified seven times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and six times platinum in Canada, becoming the seventh most successful single on the Canadian Hot 100 for 2014. It was certified double in New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Italy, and Spain, and platinum in Austria, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. In Denmark, the song was certified platinum for streams over 2.6 million, and in Spain there were 10 million streams.

20

Cover Versions

Emblem3 – The Roots – Justin Bieber – Kate Davis – Pentatonix – Anita Antoinette – other less famous artists covered the song on YouTube