Nantucket’s Trainor empowering new generation of strong-willed women
Diane Kilgore | May 17, 2016
On Friday the 13th, Meghan Trainor, a Nantucket native, released her second major label album, “Thank You.” Earlier this year, its popular lead single, “No,” introduced the collection of dance pop tunes to her millennial and post-millennial fan base. To promote the music beyond that cohort, and explain her philosophy, Trainor made successful and amusing appearances on the Howard Stern radio program, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as well as the Today Show with Hoda Kotb.
At 22, Trainor is a recognized influencer of popular culture, saturating her lyrics with messages of body-type acceptance and female empowerment. The flirty sensation with big eyes, tight clothes and curve appeal began arranging music to suit her style in childhood. After the success of her 2014 debut signature song “All About That Bass,” the song writer, who had anticipated a career of handing her work to others to perform, broke through her semi-zoftig insecurities to became the vision and the voice for the song that earned Grammy nominations for both Record and Song of the Year. “All about the Bass” was more than a catchy radio standard, it resonated with round-bottomed women who felt celebrated by its note of encouragement.
“No”‘s chorus is a vortex of syncopation that re-calibrates Trainor’s historic messages. It’s more than melody; it’s an auto-erotic call-to-arms for young women on today’s dating scene. Watching the dark music video adds graphic visuals to the hyper-psycho-sexuality of each stanza. Trainor and her dancing cohorts appear far from eponymous pastel bubble-gum young lovlies, they portray themselves as a slick underground militia reciting the poetry of their generation. The music video seems to espouse Trainor’s template of coping with the tempest of tousling young men.
The visual essay is representative of one young woman’s experience but it’s also reflective of a generational anthem. Looking at the “Confident” music video of 2015 starring former Disney star Demi Lovato, a deep drum beating pace supports a choreographed commentary of cultural chaos. Raven-haired, ultra-fit Lovato, at 23, has outgrown her Barney and Friends image and is now a stunningly sexy woman who performs the power song she wrote to express how she perceives herself personally and professionally. The lyrics are an iTune affirmation of self-empowerment. Like “No,” the music video featuring New Mexico’s Lovato rocks with sexual swagger that encourages women to fight their way though minefields of men. Its successful crisis resolution relies on the empathy and dominate personae of another contentious woman. After the video’s climax the women exchange a knowing nod, leaving viewers to wonder if the gesture symbolically celebrates willfulness, the win or wanting.
Thirty-four-year-old Britney Spears is now somewhat of an elder stateswoman of the pop-princess industry. With a four-year commitment to be a resident entertainer at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, she’s a brand-name commodity with multi-generational appeal. Britney’s societal relevance began with her debut on the Mickey Mouse Club in 1993. After that show was canceled, Spears returned to fame with her 1999 hit, “Baby One More Time” followed a year later by “Oops! … I Did It Again!” In 2008, the Mississippi Miss regained her status as as icon of youthful expression appearing as a vamped office worker who turns the corporate tables on men in her “Womanizer” music video. Again, animus, agitation and mockery of men are pillars of the production that speaks to a population of young women expressing frustrated sexual energy though violence.
Tatum Pederson, a 23-year-old from the Boston area will be graduated from North Carolina’s Elon University this week. Throughout her college years the co-ed has been a contributor to national entertainment and lifestyle magazines, providing social commentary on the consciousness of our times. Reflecting on “No,” “Confident” and “Womanizer,” Tatum said she and her friends relate to the music videos because “guys can get way too aggressive and think they have a right to speak/possibly touch us in ways that are not acceptable … especially when drinking is involved.” “As far as dating, I think during college, girls are pretty bummed that we can’t go on nice dates and be treated right by boys our age.”
She went on to say, “The hook-up culture in college is pretty dominant and I think it’s something that needs to change. I watch guys in college walk all over girls and not treat them with appropriate respect. Pederson and her friends understand the message of having to be self-protective and assertive because “there are times when my friends and I are out and in a setting where we don’t want guys hitting on us … and I feel the boys need boundaries.”
Tatum knows she’s been lucky, when she’s said “Thank you, no,” she’s been able to avoid sexual violence but she says it’s out there and knows guys these songs are referring to.
Pederson believes wide-spread engagement in social media forums where dating disasters are openly discussed prompts these videos, helping women to feel more pride in their sense of power. The maddening current of the war between the sexes is nothing new, however. In generations past, women were not encouraged to take charge of their sexual identity — often relegated into passive compliance or coerced into thinking they were to blame for unwanted sexual encounters or simply crazy.
It’s difficult to hear and see. Across our nation, poets of this generation feel compelled to voice themes of sexual retribution. If however, the anthems extend credibility and respect to the chorus of women who have said and will say “Thank you, no,” then the videos have the potential to transcend pop culture and be used as teaching aids, re-framing old “misunderstandings,” and fundamentally empowering younger generations to rewrite the language of romance.
