With help from producers like Ricky Reed, she delivers wide-eyed pre-9/11 pop—and this throwback vibe suits her.
On Thank You she demonstrates real dance-pop agility. Some of these songs will be moving feet for a good while to come.
Taken on a track by track basis, it can be silly fun ... but as a collective, Thank You turns into something less than the sum of its parts almost entirely due to the Trainor's tunnel vision.
Self-empowerment can shade into self-aggrandizement when it isn’t delivered in a convincing way, and Thank You only periodically rises to the challenge.
Thank You is a major step forward from 2014’s unlikable Title, and someone you’re rooting against is in it to win it.
Structure is an issue within Thank You, despite its catchy beats.
In her attempts to capture the girl-power theatrics of early-aughts Destiny's Child, Trainor also misguidedly rehashes that era's urban-pop production, all chintzy beats and grinding synths.
Ultimately, much of Thank You is a bit of a hotchpotch, after her initial efforts were rejected and main producer Ricky Reed called on to conjure up some hits.
The reparative self-love that once propelled All About That Bass now feels more like straight narcissism.