Meghan Trainor, the talented pop star, is seated in an opulent marble bathtub, fully dressed and accompanied by two friends. The trio harmoniously belts out an a cappella rendition of Trainor’s hit single, “Made You Look,” flawlessly hitting every note for a mesmerizing half-minute. Suddenly, they stop, exchange excited glances, and burst into screams of pure joy.
This snippet of Trainor’s performance garnered immense popularity on TikTok in November, amassing over 100 million views and receiving comments like “I’m certain this is playing at the gates of heaven.” It has since become Trainor’s most-viewed video on the platform.
While the video may have seemed spontaneous, filmed in a bathroom nonetheless, it exemplifies Trainor’s mastery of TikTok over the past couple of years. This platform revival has propelled her music career and garnered mainstream popularity comparable to her 2014 release, “All About That Bass.”
“When that upbeat, doo-wop body positivity anthem—’every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top’—and its pastel-colored music video caught the public’s attention, Nielsen reported that it sold 5.8 million copies, making it the highest-selling digital song of the 2010s by a female artist. Trainor even won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2016.
Today, TikTok has become the driving force behind streaming on Spotify and has a significant influence on what tops the radio and Billboard charts. Popularity on TikTok has become a coveted currency for record labels, leaving them eager to replicate Trainor’s success.
With nearly 18 million followers on TikTok, Trainor owes a large part of her following to the viral dance challenge sparked by “Made You Look” shortly after its release in October. For comparison, Taylor Swift, who uses the app sparingly, has 18.9 million followers, while Lil Nas X, one of the platform’s breakout stars, boasts a staggering 29 million followers.
On TikTok, Trainor not only shares her own music videos and dances to her songs but also engages in split-screen duets with lesser-known artists. Additionally, she has cultivated a playful and open persona, often posting videos about personal topics such as taking adult laxatives, shaving her face before live performances, and her relationship with her husband.
During a recent outing in Manhattan, the 29-year-old Trainor remained candid, discussing a popular video she made about anal fissures as evidence that TikTok rewards her brand of “T.M.I.” honesty. However, it was apparent that Trainor also adopts a strategic approach to the app. At seven months pregnant, clad in cozy slippers at her agency’s office, she had just left “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” where she announced the gender of her baby (another boy!) after building anticipation for weeks on TikTok. Trainor sat on a couch alongside her close friend and TikTok advisor, Chris Olsen, a cheerful 25-year-old content creator with a substantial following who has been collaborating with Trainor since 2022 and frequently appears in her videos.
“I never once have had a conversation with my label about TikTok. That’s why I enjoy it so much and why it never feels like a job,” Trainor revealed. Unlike many artists constantly pressured to produce TikToks, Trainor has the freedom to create content organically.
TikTok has undeniably become a cultural force in America, shaping music, television, movies, and more, despite concerns raised by lawmakers about its Chinese owner, ByteDance. According to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of 13 to 17-year-olds in the United States use TikTok, and the platform boasts 150 million users overall. TikTok has had a significant impact on the music industry, with its vast audience and features that allow users to create dance and other videos to song snippets. Its opaque algorithm can transform obscure songs or carefully planted singles by record labels into Spotify and radio sensations.
However, not all artists are willing or able to embrace TikTok like Trainor has.
“She’s still alive?” or “I thought you retired!”—these were the types of comments Trainor stumbled upon when browsing TikTok in 2021. People remembered her hits but seemed unaware of her recent activities. With the arrival of 2020, Trainor’s visibility had diminished, exacerbated by health issues and two vocal cord surgeries. She was determined to reclaim the spotlight with her album “Treat Myself,” which she considered her best work to date. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit, shutting down all avenues for promotion.
Unable to perform or share her album as planned, Trainor, like millions of other Americans in lockdown, turned to TikTok. She played covers on her ukulele and participated in dance challenges. Then, towards the end of 2021, she noticed a fascinating phenomenon—her earlier songs suddenly going viral on TikTok, chosen by users as the soundtrack to their own videos. This echoed the cultural moment of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album, which skyrocketed back to the top ten of the Billboard charts due to TikTok videos in 2020, decades after its initial release.
Trainor recalled the surreal experience of people mentioning that her songs had accumulated 60 million views or more on TikTok, bringing her seven-year-old tracks back into the limelight. Fans expressed their surprise, sharing comments like, “Wow, I used to listen to you as a kid and thought you were gone forever.” Trainor had to set the record straight and let them know she was still active in the music industry.
Trainor received an unexpected boost in popularity among younger millennials and Gen Z thanks to her husband, Daryl Sabara. Sabara’s role as Juni Cortez in the beloved children’s movie “Spy Kids” and its sequels created a connection that resonated with fans. They excitedly referenced “Spy Kids” and Juni Cortez in their comments on Trainor’s TikTok videos. The enthusiasm seemed boundless.
As two more of Trainor’s older songs gained traction on TikTok without her intervention or explanation, another significant effect became evident—an increase in streams on platforms like Spotify, resulting in substantial royalties. Tommy Bruce, Trainor’s manager, who also represents Harry Styles, explained that while TikTok pays out some money to record labels, the major earnings come from streams on platforms like Spotify. These streams can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties, which are then divided among the rights holders, including Trainor’s label and other songwriters.
Bruce emphasized that this serendipitous virality cannot be manufactured. For music industry executives desperate for TikTok success, convincing established artists like Halsey and Ed Sheeran to embrace the platform has been a challenge. Trainor’s fortunate experience exemplifies the unpredictable nature of TikTok’s impact.
According to Bill Werde, director of the Bandier music business program at Syracuse University, and author of a popular music…[unfinished sentence]
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