Meghan Trainor says she ‘Still Don’t Care’ – her new album and tour are all about growth
In the decade since her debut album, Meghan Trainor has lived a myriad of lives, but the message of her happy, joyful pop music has remained the same: stay true to who you are and ignore the people who hate you.
This spirit continues on his first single, the jovial I still don’t carethe first teaser of his upcoming seventh album, Play with mereleased on April 24 next year.
And like Trainor, I still don’t care was inspired by real-life situations.
“I was seeing a lot of hate all over the world, but I got a lot of hate when I started posting more photos of… my fitness journey and my health journey. And I didn’t really expect that,” Trainor said.
“I was really upset by the comments and I was like, ‘I wish I didn’t feel that way. I wish I didn’t give them so much power.’
“And so when I write songs, I always write from the perspective of what I would like to think, like All About That Bass.
“I didn’t feel that way when I wrote it,” she continued.
“And all my self-love anthems. But when I perform them and see how it affects other people, I start to believe them.”
I still don’t care is yet another example, with its maximalist 1980s pop production and backing vocals courtesy of Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying.
Her mother, brother and sister-in-law also contribute vocals, perhaps softening the song’s approach to combating online hate.
“You could tear me apart,” Trainor sings. “But I sleep well at night.”
Exhausting process
This is the first taste of Play with methat Trainor teases will have some self-love bops, songs to express anger and lots of familial love.
“The only features I have right now are my kids, Riley and Barry, because I wrote them a beautiful song, the only slower song.
“It’s called Little and that’s how much I wish they could stay small forever,” she said, smiling.
“When I play it, Riley says, ‘Oh, that’s my song. Play my song!’
“It’s literally my lullaby to them.”
“And at the end of the song, they say, ‘I love you, mom,’ and it’s just the cutest thing ever. And that’s when everyone cries.”
Trainor said she worked on the album for eight months.
“I got exhausted and went a little too hard. I was excited to be home with the kids and working on my songs, but then I definitely overdid it, and my body started doing weird things, giving me signals.
“One day my tongue started burning. And I was like, ‘What is that?’ And it wouldn’t go away forever. And the dentist said, ‘Oh, you’re stressed,'” she recalls.
A fulfilling job
Songwriting was also a challenge.
“I usually write a song in a day and be done with it, but every song on this album took about months to complete,” she said.
“So that was the only difference between this album and any other album I’ve done.”
A lot of that was because she recruited songwriters she’d never worked with before — people who pushed her to make the song the best it could be — challenges she welcomed with open arms.
The work is rewarding and it continues like this: Trainor will also begin a North American tour in 2026 with Icona Pop as opening act.
Trainor’s last tour, the Timeless Tour, was seven years ago,
It proved to Trainor that she could do this thing again.
“I’m not absolutely petrified like I was for the Timeless Tour,” she said.
“I know I can survive it and it can be really fun.” – AP
