On the surface, it may seem ironic. Meghan Trainor, an artist whose ticket to fame was her girl-next-door charm and accessibility, called her recent concert series “The Untouchable Tour.”
Upon viewing the concert, the title makes perfect sense.
No, Meghan Trainor is not literally perfect. She is not literally “untouchable.”
She is, however, in an elite class when it comes to putting on the right kind of show. The concert is unabashedly and refreshingly true to who Meghan is an artist and what Meghan’s fans want from a concert.
One would be hard-pressed to find a mainstream pop show that delivers on expectations as well as Trainor’s show. One would be hard-pressed to find a mainstream pop show as light, fun, uplifting and utterly enjoyable as Trainor’s show.
The incredibly fun North American tour concludes this weekend Boston. In conjunction with the final two dates, we wanted to share five observations from Meghan Trainor’s “Untouchable Tour.”
Review primarily based on the September 9, 2016 show at Radio City Music Hall in New York, NY
1) Grateful, Still A Star
Meghan Trainor is the type of musician people want to succeed. She is a talented, hard-working, determined artist who writes her own music and can legitimately sing live.
Trainor, moreover, seems to greatly appreciate the success. She is not cavalier about her growing fame and fortune, and she never projects a sense of entitlement. She constantly thanks her fans, friends, family and other supporters for all they have done.
But while she may not feel entitled to her success, she does not present herself as undeserving. Her reaction to fame is more of the “I’m so thrilled and thankful it happened to me” variety than of the “I can’t believe it happened to me” flavor.
This form of confidence works to the benefit of the show. She may be relatable, but she is still charging money for her concert. She is still a major name artist. She is still inviting expectations for a memorable, exciting, incredibly entertaining evening. In order to deliver on those expectations, she needs to possess — and present — ample star quality.
She unquestionably does. Her confidence is admirable and not at all arrogant, but it is confidence nonetheless. And that is a good thing. From the first song to the encore, Trainor comes across as someone legitimately special.
She had considerable experience even prior to the success of “All About That Bass” and was thus a strong performer on 2015’s “That Bass Tour.” With increased comfort and acceptance of her star quality, she is a much stronger one on “The Untouchable Tour.”
2) Fun is the Focus
She has a great voice is skilled at conveying emotion. She also several great ballads in her discography — “Kindly Calm Me Down” is unquestionably the strongest track on her recently released “Thank You.”
Meghan Trainor, quite simply, is good at “slow songs.”
Those songs do not, however, make particular noise on “The Untouchable Tour.” The audience in attendance is thirsty for fun. It wants to dance, sing, and scream.
Trainor, luckily, is right at home in this environment. She is a fundamentally fun person — her previous tour involved a “dance break” in which the artist would join the crowd in rocking out to songs like “Uptown Funk.” When she covers songs like “One Dance” on this tour, she is clearly having the time of her life.
Many of her most recognizable songs, moreover, epitomize the notion of joy.
“The Untouchable Tour” is a light, breezy, entertaining experience. Trainor is certainly gifted from a musical standpoint and sincere from an emotional one, but her biggest priority – at least as a performer – is keeping a wide smile on the face of her fans. She succeeds.
3) It Brings Families Together
Meghan Trainor is 22-year-old. Her most passionate fans are not the same age.
Given her lively spirit, infectious energy, catchy tunes, and endearing positivity, Trainor is a big hit with kids and tweens. The most passionate fans in attendance — the ones wearing the merchandise, dancing to every beat, and screaming “I love you, Meghan” every five seconds — are at least eight or nine years younger than Trainor. They make up a significant portion of the audience.
With so many young fans in attendance, there are naturally many parents in attendance as well. Those parents do not, however, give the sense that they were “dragged” to the show. They may not be quite as enthusiastic as their children, but they are definitely Meghan Trainor fans. Plenty of the mothers and fathers in attendance were dancing and singing along.
The observation speaks to the universality of Meghan’s music and message. She is clearly an old, eclectic soul; her biggest early hits were inspired by doo-wop, soul and retro girl groups. Her music is modern enough to garner pop radio play but timeless enough to click with adult contemporary listeners. The broad approach may strip some Trainor songs of “cool points,” but it also allows her to connect with a bigger audience than many fellow Millennial artists.
If not due to her music, Trainor also clicks with parents courtesy her attitude, image and ability. Her content is fairly clean (for 2016) without being lifeless, and her message is empowering without being cliche. She makes for a great role model, and thus an artist parents will not mind their kids admiring. The fact that she actually has unique talent greatly adds to the appeal; parents need not dread the prospect of taking their kids to a robotic, manufactured pop show.
Trainor, meanwhile, makes no effort to hide her own love for family. She frequently shouts out and involves her parents during the show. Her song “Dance Like Yo Daddy” prompts, you guessed it, dancing from her father, while her “Mom” offers a cute, obvious tribute to her mother.
4) The Production & Design Are Solid, Yet Sincere
The “superstar”/”girl next door” balance that defines Meghan Trainor’s artistic essence also applies to her set design and production.
In a media alert on the show, Epic Records declared, “the show really showcases the unique artist that Meghan is.” While label publicists often speak in hyperbole, this particular statement is entirely accurate.
The set design (including screens that play footage tying into the performances) and costume designs are befitting a major artist, but they do not serve a smoke-and-mirrors function. They are not so elaborate as to distract from the music or Trainor’s personality, and they do not at all suggest Trainor has morphed into a by-the-numbers pop star.
They simply allow a big, relatable, honest artist to make the best possible impact. To somehow derive more love and enjoyment from a crowd that already loves Meghan Trainor.
5) There Is Still Room To Grow
If you viewed the previous paragraphs as a rave review, you did not misinterpret. Meghan Trainor’s “The Untouchable Tour” was a great experience that absolutely lives up to expectations.
That does not, however, mean there are not some opportunities for improvement.
On future tours, Trainor should definitely work to create an even more dynamic musical experience. Trainor generally chose the right songs and is versatile enough to avoid accusations of monotony, but the “Untouchable Tour” set does not necessarily tell a story from start-to-finish. It is mostly about just playing song after song.
That works for right now – she only has two albums of commercially available music, and the audience was pretty clear in the type of song it wanted to hear – but as she continues to expand her discography, audience and creative vision, there is probably an opportunity to create more of a deliberate narrative with the setlist and staging.
Scoring another massive hit in the vein of “All About That Bass” would also greatly help Trainor’s show. Such a comment may seem obvious and unnecessary — what artist wouldn’t want another 9x-platinum smash — but it does carry particular relevance in this context.
Trainor’s core audience of young children and their parents tends to gravitate toward mainstream radio hits. Unlike the Millennial/”Internet” music fanbase, the audience tends to be less familiar with and excited by rare remixes and deep album cuts.
“The Untouchable Tour” is at its best when the audience is dancing and singing along. The more hits Trainor has to inspire such audience participation, the more electric and ultimately enjoyable the show will be.
Luckily, Trainor appears to be an incredibly determined and ambitious artist. The evolution from her “That Bass Tour” to her “The Untouchable Tour” was incredible, and there is no reason to believe her improvement will cease.
And if she continues growing as quickly as she did from 2015 to 2016, she is indeed on the road to becoming “Untouchable.”
