PRESS
A JEWEL OF NANTUCKET ISLE - by Sarah Teach
YESTERDAY"S ISLAND Volume 41 Sept 1-7, 2011
You know the drill: you’re flipping through radio stations and you stop when you hear a catchy tune. Even if you recognize the artist’s sound, you probably don’t know much about his or her personal background. But not too far into the future, you’ll be stopping that dial when you hear Nantucket native Meghan Trainor belting out her original lyrics alongside the sounds of her own guitar. The seven-year-old in ponytails and cheetah pants who once performed at the Methodist church on Centre Street has blossomed into a producer, songwriter, and instrumental and vocal performer of three original albums. Did I mention that we’re talking about a 17-year-old?
Born and raised on Nantucket, Trainor’s island roots go deep. “I always liked my music classes on Nantucket. In elementary, we had Miss Moores, then in jazz band, we had Mrs. Thompson.” Trainor laughs as she recalls, “I’d always get called out in class, though, and people would joke about how the only two people they could hear singing were me and my friend David Watson.” Barely after the days of Miss Moores, Trainor first began producing her own music. “It started when I heard what my friend Rachel’s brother, who’s a rapper, could record using a computer.” At age 11, Trainor, with her dad’s help, launched a home recording studio. Since those Garage Band beginnings, she has grown into a pop genius with a propensity for writing hit songs. With a voice that’s gutsy but gentle, she’s able to give her own songs justice. Online radio site Jango lists her music as similar to that of pop/rock stars Jason Mraz, Madonna, Michael Buble, and several more. Despite her remarkable talent, Trainor is very down-to-earth, and you would never guess that she is an award-winning singer/songwriter. Her themes center on independence, love, growing up, and everything else that we all faced throughout our teen years. Fittingly, her brand-new album, which will be released in September, is titled “Only 17.”
The high production quality of her music makes it hard to believe that it’s stemming from someone who can’t even vote yet. Unsurprisingly, music industry professionals agree. Following the release of her first album in 2009, Trainor became the youngest person ever to win Best Female Artist in the International Acoustic Music Awards for her song “Waterfalls.” In October 2010, she was selected to be a Showcase Performer at the Durango Songwriter's Expo in Colorado. Just a month later, she took home the Grand Prize from the New Orleans Songwriter's Festival. She had a blast enjoying her prize of co-writing a song with acclaimed Nashville Songwriter Jim McCormick. She lights up when she talks about that experience. “Jim McCormick pretty much has the coolest job ever [as a songwriter for famous artists]!” Her awards didn’t stop there. This past spring, Trainor triumphed at the Tennessee Concerts Song Contest with her song, “You're Good With Me,” winning a music video shoot in Nashville. Her new song, “Single,” which you can hear on her next album, brought her to semi-finalist status in the 2011 Song of the Year songwriting contest; and also this year, she won the 2011 John Lennon Love Song Songwriting Contest for “Learning to Say I Love You.”
Trainor has also received widespread acclaim for her heartfelt song, “Take Care of Our Soldiers,” which urges people to honor those serving in our country’s military. “No, I didn’t date a soldier,” she says. “I got the idea for the song when I was talking to my parents one night about the soldiers who fought in Vietnam, and how they got treated badly when they got back home to the states. We talked about how it doesn’t matter if you agree with a war or not; they’re still people. We all deserve respect from each another.” After writing “Take Care of Our Soldiers,” Trainor contacted Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops to let them know she would donate 100% of the song’s proceeds to them and THE USO. “Through that, I ended up getting to tour around the Massachusetts to perform the song for soldiers and their families,” Trainor says. She also compiled a music video that will bring tears to the eyes of any American patriot or anyone who holds a soldier in their heart. You can hear it on YouTube.com.
Apart from of all of her awards and recognition, Trainor’s favorite project so far is her new album, which will come out in September. “I’m still obsessed with all the songs on it. Right now, my favorite song on the album is probably ‘Window.’ It’s definitely cool to get ready to share something I’ve created with other people, and then see them enjoy it.”
You would think that Trainor is nothing but thrilled to start performing all of her latest work, but she reveals a shy side. “I do still get stage fright!” she confesses. “It’s funny, it happens in the most random places! I’m actually okay in front of huge crowds. But getting up in front of teenagers…” she trails off and ends with “Ugh! Teenagers, they judge. You know? I just get so nervous in front of them.” I assure Trainor that, as many of us know, when you leave high school, your life changes and you start learning to care less what others think of you.
When asked about her future plans, Trainor discloses her hopes to study music at Belmont University in Nashville. “I actually got a full scholarship to go to Berkeley School of Music this summer,” she says. “I had always kind of assumed that I’d go there since I’ve been doing their summer Performance Program for the past two years.” But life took a different path, and Trainor believes the Songwriting major at Belmont will guide her best. However, Trainor’s advice for other young musicians has nothing to do with schooling: “Keep performing,” she emphasizes. “If you get a gig somewhere, any gig anywhere, go do it! Even if you’re only playing for, like, three people, you’ll still be getting practice. Something good will come of it.” She also encourages aspiring musicians to branch out in their songwriting styles. “Try a different genre,” she urges. “Sometimes crazy things can come from places you don’t expect.”
Trainor’s musical know-how extends beyond solo performances, though. “I’m a part of our family band, Island Fusion; we’ve been playing for about five years. It’s me, my brother, my dad and an old music student of his, and my aunt and uncle.” Island Fusion blends reggae with Soca, whipping up a Caribbean medley that is thoroughly danceable. And the Trainor family’s collaborative capabilities don’t stop at the edge of the stage. “My parents own Jewel of the Isle [a fine jewelry store here on Nantucket].” Around her neck, Trainor is wearing a pendant that, at first glance, a Nantucketer might assume is a lightship basket. “It’s actually a scallop basket,” says Trainor. “My mom made it! I don’t know how to make jewelry or anything like she does, but I’m learning to help my dad work on watches!”
Trainor loves that her parents are jewelers, but her own aspirations are leading her in a different direction. Trainor says, “My dream job would be to write songs for famous people. If I could say I was on that [well-known] album somewhere—if I could write songs that are that good—then I’d be happy.”
But just between us, I think Trainor may be setting her sights more humbly than necessary. With the kind of talent and determination she radiates, Meghan Trainor is going big. It’ll be exciting to see what she does after she writes her first song that’s heard on radios ‘round the world. You have a couple more chances to hear this star-in-the-making perform live on Nantucket this season! She’ll be playing solo on Thursday, September 1 at the Jetties from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. T he next night, September 2, don’t miss the chance to see Island Fusion at The Muse at 10 p.m. If you cannot make it to either show, you can still hear her online or on her albums. Fortunately, you’ve now found the perfect birthday present for that teenage niece of yours. Trainor was only 15 when she released her first album, and her music is refreshingly age-appropriate, catchy, and sweet. It’s definitely the kind of music your selective sister-in-law won’t kill you for bringing into her home; plus it’ll upgrade you to “cool aunt or uncle” status. Get any or all of Trainor’s CDs at Jewel of the Isle, on her website, on iTunes, or on Amazon. Gary and Kelli Trainor may have named their store Jewel of the Isle, but the real gem they’ve produced is their daughter Meghan.
Cape songwriter pens song for the troops
Cape Cod Times May 23, 2010
By Heather Wysocki
EASTHAM — In the time it takes most students to settle in front of the TV with an after-school snack, 16-year-old Meghan Trainor has picked up her guitar and — on good days — written and produced a song.
"If I get a good melody, I can record a song in 45 minutes," said Trainor, a sophomore at Nauset Regional High School. "The first day I got a ukulele, I wrote an entire song on it."
Writing a song on piano is just as easy for the student, who is also a member of her school's honors chorus and jazz band.
"I just wave my hand over the piano and drop it onto a key," Trainor said. Often, the exercise results in a song, which she self-produces in her room.
For years, Trainor made music because of a simple love for the craft, but recently she decided to use it to give back.
Trainor's latest single, "Take Care of Our Soldiers," was written three months ago with the hope of giving back to U.S. soldiers stationed overseas, she said.
The song, a pleading ballad with simple chords and mournful vocals, urges listeners to keep soldiers in their thoughts no matter what, said Trainor.
"However you feel about the war, we should respect the people who are fighting it for us," she said.
All proceeds from the sale of the single on iTunes and Amazon.com will benefit the United Service Organizations (USO), a group that entertains overseas troops, and Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops, a non-profit founded by 17-year-old Dylan DeSilva.
"The family wanted to find a way to help... and to recognize all the military members currently involved in the wars," DeSilva said.
Trainor will also perform during the Cape charity's annual 24-hour Troops in the Spotlight Memorial Day weekend event, which runs from 11:30 a.m. on May 30 to noon on May 31.
After the performance, she and her family — parents Kelli and Gary, and brothers Ryan and Justin — will help other volunteers at the event make care packages for overseas troops.
Money from sales of the song will be used for care packages and postage to send them, DeSilva said.
She'll also perform at the Vets Fish Province-town benefit June 5.
Musical inspirations
Playing "a little cello and piano" along with the guitar, Trainor produced her self-titled full-length album in just that manner, releasing it on Christmas of last year.
It took her a little over a month.
"She is definitely one to watch," said radio personality Cat, host of Cool 102's The Cheap Seats. "Give her a riff and she'll build an entire song around it."
The Cheap Seats, which spotlights local musicians, featured Trainor earlier in the year after Cat was given Trainor's CD by Cape rockers The Ticks. They, in turn, had received the disc from Johnny Spampinato, a member of The Spampinato Brothers and The Incredible Casuals.
"The voice and the wisdom and the lyrics and the songs... She's just got that magical combination."
Much of Trainor's music can be likened to the folksy coffeehouse styles of Sheryl Crow and Colbie Caillat, the artist whose career she idolizes most.
But Trainor admits her music is tough to categorize, as she draws equally from Christina Aguilera and The Andrews Sisters, from 1940s jazz and modern-day R&B, playing it on instruments ranging from guitar to keyboard to bongos.
She has also performed soca, a Caribbean style of dance music, and the mid-century jazz her father, a former conductor of the Nantucket Community Jazz Band, loves.
"I try not to pick one genre," Trainor said. "I love all the hip-hop, but I also love the old tunes."
'A rare artist'
For Trainor, the hours spent each day on music have paid off, leading to gigs at Hard Rock Cafe in Boston and The Bitter End rock club in New York City.
Though Trainor has "lost count" of the number of songs she has written, they've been enough to make her a finalist in dozens of contests, including the 2009 International Songwriting Competition, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' 2010 songwriting competition at a conference in Los Angeles, and the 2009 International Acoustic Music Awards, where she was named best female artist.
Though the young songwriter likens it to an after-school job — "It's tough," she said — Trainor hopes that creating music now will lead to a career in the field later.
"I want at least someone to know my music," she said.
According to Cool 102's Cat, that's already happening.
"Her downloads are through the roof," she said. "She absolutely sees the entire world in song, and it's a rare artist who can do that."
uPlaya's Meghan Trainor: America's Next Singing Sweetheart!
graysonbraswell Sep 02, 2010
Meghan Trainor,
a 16-year-old singer/songwriter from Nantucket has been immersed in
music her whole life. Coming from a family of musicians, Meghan has been
performing since age 7 and has been writing and producing her own music
as early as 11-years-old. With a varied set of influences ranging from
her own father to Michael Buble to JoJo, Meghan has a soft sound that
reaches and touches deep. And while you might think this young pop star
would have little time for extracurriculars and a normal teenage life,
you might just want to think again.... Meghan is very involved in her
community and at her high school, where she is a member of The Nauset
High School Treble Chorus as well as the singing soloist and only female
trumpet player in her school’s jazz band. She would definitely have my
vote for homecoming queen!
Here is what the USO wrote about Meghan's song: Take Care of our Soldiers:
Talented Teens Have Star Power
The Inquirer and Mirror 12/10/09
Love of the stage shared by Allen, Sanders, Trainor
"Meghan Trainor, 15, has recently finished as a finalist in the Independent Singer-Song writer’s Association song-writing contest for her song “Falling.”
“Most kids go home and pick up a video game after school. She doesn’t do that,” said her father Gary Trainor, who co owns Jewel of the Isle with his wife, Kelli, and was a former music teacher on Nantucket. “She comes home and works on her songs. It has always been her focus and she loves what she is doing.”
Singing since she was seven years old, Trainor is proficient at both the piano and guitar and plays trumpet with her school band.
A sophomore at Nauset Regional High school (the family commutes to the island for work), she has in recent years begun to write songs and is in the process of completing her first solo album of all original songs. She does all of the work herself and has, according to her father, become quite proficient as a producer as well.
Trainor, who was formerly a member of a family band called Island Fusion that performed often on-island over the past few summers, hopes to finish her album by Christmas.
“I love to watch people’s reac tions to my music,” she said. “And I write mostly about matters of the heart and for other people. I see what they are going through and try to write about it.”
Her song “Falling” dealt with the weighty issue of person who falls in love with one of their best friends.
“I think she will definitely go on to do something in music,” said her father. “Not sure what direction she will take at this point, but we encourage her as someone with a gift who has been recognized by her teachers and peers.”
Trainor recently finished a five week summer program at Boston’s Berklee School of Music which she found very inspiring. She hopes to attend when she graduates high school." The Inquirer and Mirror 12/10/09
