"All About That Bass" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, released on June 30, 2014, through Epic Records. The song was included on Trainor's debut extended play (EP), Title (2014), and her debut studio album of the same name (2015). The track, a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and hip-hop record, was recorded from 2012 to 2013 at the Carriage House, based in Nolensville, Tennessee, and Sun Mountain Studios, based in Boiceville, New York. It was written by Trainor herself, alongside Kevin Kadish, who also produced the song. Trainor, who as a teenager struggled with her negative body image, was inspired to write the song to promote self-acceptance and body positivity.
Upon its release, some music critics praised "All About That Bass" production and memorable message, while others called it a novelty song and criticized the failure of its lyrics to empower every body type. The song was nominated for numerous awards and accolades, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It was the best-selling song by a female artist during the 2010s in the United States, and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also reached number one in 18 additional countries and received Diamond certifications in Australia, Brazil, and Canada, as well as multi-platinum certifications in Denmark, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom, becoming the fourth best-selling song of 2014 with 11 million copies sold worldwide.
Fatima Robinson directed the song's music video, which features 1950s-inspired aesthetics and a pink pastel backdrop. The video was released on June 10, 2014, and played an important role in the song's rise to prominence. "All About That Bass" inspired parodies and cover versions, such as a parody from the cast of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and covers from The Roots, Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix, and Maejor with Justin Bieber. Trainor performed the song on television shows and broadcasts such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the 48th Annual Country Music Association Awards (with Miranda Lambert), and The X Factor UK, and included it on the set lists of her concert tours That Bass Tour and MTrain Tour (2015), the Untouchable Tour (2016), and the Timeless Tour (2024).
Background
After independently releasing three albums herself between 2009 and 2010, Meghan Trainor decided to write songs for other singers because she considered herself "one of the chubby girls who would never be an artist". In 2012, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, a Nashville, Tennessee-based music publishing firm, and moved to Nashville the following November. American songwriter Kevin Kadish met Trainor in June 2013 at the request of Carla Wallace, a co-owner of Big Yellow Dog. Kadish liked Trainor's voice and booked a writing session with her the following month. He said it was "like a blind date" because they had a strong song-writing affinity and a mutual love of pop music from the 1950s and 1960s.
Kadish read a list of potential song titles to Trainor, of which "All Bass, No Treble" was her favorite. Trainor was inspired by her teenage problems with self-acceptance and body image, and suggested these as a basis for the lyrics. She told Rolling Stone Kadish had experienced similar problems during his childhood and could relate to these themes. She suggested a booty theme with "it's about the bass, not the treble". Trainor was also inspired by Bruno Mars's "Just the Way You Are" (2010), and criticized the use of electronically edited images in beauty magazines. Kadish played a drum beat while Trainor sang the hook, "I'm all about that bass, 'bout the bass, no treble". Kadish and Trainor wanted to incorporate influences of 1950s doo-wop, a genre Trainor found catchy, into the song, which they wrote within 40 minutes. According to Kadish, he and Trainor equally contributed to the lyrics and melody, and Kadish finished the demo of "All About That Bass" two to three days later.
Although both were satisfied with the song, they doubted its commercial prospects. They pitched it to several record labels, who said it would not be successful because of its retro-styled composition and wanted to rerecord it using synthesizers, which Kadish and Trainor refused. Trainor sang "All About That Bass" for Paul Pontius, who was the A&R manager for Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid. She performed the song the following week using a ukulele for Reid, who signed her with the record label 20 minutes later. Reid decided that the demo, with additional mastering, should be the song's final cut. Speaking in 2015, he said he considered it "lightning in a bottle" and realized at their first meeting Trainor "was going to explode".
Composition and lyrical interpretation
"All About That Bass" is three minutes and eight seconds long. The song was produced, engineered, programmed, sound designed, and mixed by Kadish—who also played drums, electric guitar, and bass guitar—at the Carriage House studio in Nolensville, Tennessee. David Baron played the piano, baritone saxophone, and Hammond organ. Trainor provided the track's clapping and percussion, and Dave Kutch mastered the recording at the Mastering Palace in New York City.
"All About That Bass" is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and hip hop song. Kelsey McKinney of Vox characterized it as retro-R&B pop, while Slates Chris Molanphy described its style as "vintage white-girl, Italo-Latin soul". The track has a 1950s-inspired throwback soul beat, and influences from 1960s genres—soul-pop, groove, Motown bounce and girl group pop. "All About That Bass" includes syncopated handclaps and bass instrumentation. In the song's outro, Trainor alternates between wordless vocal ad-libs and a pitched-down echo of "bass, bass, bass" at the end of the chorus mark. She raps some of the lyrics. According to Molanphy, it has "a scatting tempo and shimmying melody", which has been compared with South Korean group Koyote's song "Happy Mode" (2006) and American band Phish's song "Contact" (1989).
The lyrics of "All About That Bass" are a call to embrace inner beauty, and to promote positive body image and self-acceptance. The line "I'm bringing booty back" references Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" (2006). In her song, Trainor criticizes the fashion industry for creating unreachable beauty standards. She affirms the listeners their bodies are flawless, and asks them to "move along" if they are only attracted to thin women. Trainor relates the form of music (bass and treble) to the human body being thick or thin, and asserts the importance of the former. Kevin O'Keeffe of The Atlantic compared its lyrical message to those of Kesha's "We R Who We R" (2010), Pink's "Fuckin' Perfect" (2010), and Sara Bareilles' "Brave" (2013), among others. The Guardians Caroline Sullivan called "All About That Bass" a 2014 version of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" (2002).
Release and promotion "All About That Bass" was released as the lead single from Trainor's debut extended play (EP) Title in 2014 and her studio album of the same name the following year. Epic Records released the song for digital download in several countries on June 30, 2014, as Trainor's debut single, and serviced it to radio stations in the United States on the following day. In the United Kingdom, it became available to stream on August 14, and for download on September 28. Sony Music sent the track to radio stations in Italy on September 5 and the United Kingdom's BBC Radio 1 added it to its playlist three days later. An EP titled "All About That Bass" was released in Austria, Germany and Switzerland on October 3; it also included the tracks "Title", "Dear Future Husband", and "Close Your Eyes". On the same day, "All About That Bass" was released as a CD single in Germany with only "Title" as its b-side.
As "All About That Bass" began rising in popularity, Radio Disney's vice president of programming Phil Guerini asked Epic to send it a family-friendly version of the song with lyrics suitable for all audiences. The record label agreed to this because it wanted to maximize airplay and reach as many radio formats as possible. In the bowdlerized version, the line "But I can shake it, shake it, like I'm supposed to do" was replaced with "But Imma make it, make it, like I'm supposed to do"; and the line "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night" became "Boys like the girls for the beauty they hold inside"; it was also used on adult contemporary radio stations. Trainor and Kadish refused to make this version available for digital download because they believed it would "water down" the original.
Critical reception Reception toward “All About That Bass” was polarized upon its release. Some music critics viewed "All About That Bass" as a novelty song. MTV News named it the sixth-best track of 2014, while Time named it the sixth-worst of that year. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called it a "shimmery" and "cheeky [...] hit" but criticized Trainor's unenthusiastic and drawn-out delivery, and accused her of imitating black music. Molanphy described the lyrics as "effortlessly memorable" and complimented the production, but worried the misuse of the word "treble" in its lyrics might ruin the word's meaning for a whole generation.
The lyrics of "All About That Bass" caused controversy; some critics called the song anti-feminist and accused Trainor of shaming thin women. Kris Ex of Complex said Trainor imitated body standards often used to stereotype black women and appropriated colloquialisms that are associated with African-American Vernacular English. Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine called the song "faux empowerment" and criticized Trainor for encouraging women to rely on men's opinions for validation. McKinney said some of its lyrics promote a body-positive attitude and high self-worth while others contradict those values by denigrating other women. The Independent writer Yomi Adegoke argued the track's substitution of conventional beauty standards with new ones is a poor representation of body positivity, and was insulted by its statement men find only curvy women attractive. In response, Trainor said; "I didn't work this hard to hate on skinny people, I wrote the song to help my body confidence—and to help others". Writing for The Guardian, Sullivan and Beejoli Shah defended "All About That Bass"; Shah suggested critics were reading too much into its lyrics and that "this isn't an academic polemic on modern womanhood: it's a pop song". Ashley White of Florida Today thought the song did not shame thin women, instead interpreting its lyrical message as "no one—skinny, fat or in between—should have to feel uncomfortable or imperfect in their skin".
Entertainment Weeklys Melissa Maerz named "All About That Bass" one of the two best tracks on Title, describing it as a "boomin' booty ode". Shah praised its lyrics and bassline but felt it did not signal a long career for Trainor. Writing for Spin, Dan Weiss called the song a "fluke hit" but noted it was historic and would uplift more listeners than it offended. Sullivan stated that while the track's palatable nature and retro-inspired "cuteness" contributed to its success, the unwavering body-positive message of its lyrics was its biggest appeal. Stereogums Chris DeVille considered criticisms of the lyrics valid but praised the "pleasant swagger" in Trainor's expressionless delivery and its joyful nature, finding it a clever update on its retro influences. Yahoo! writer Paul Grein called "All About That Bass" one of the greatest and most successful contemporaneous "message songs". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters called the song optimistic, lively, and "absolutely delightful", and concluded that it was one of the most enjoyable songs of 2014. The song appeared on both best-of and worst-of year-end lists in 2014.
Accolades