Better
by Meghan Trainor (featuring Yo Gotti)

Album: Thank You (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Over a tropical beat, Meghan Trainor calls out an ex. She feels that maybe she could have done better, but had been fooled by his charm. Trainor said in a track-by-track that she loves the song, "because it's a little islandy, a little Caribbean and I'm trying to bring more myself into my songs."

    Trainor added the lyrics are "true. It's a shout out to all my exes."

    Megan Trainor has a family link to Caribbean music. Hers aunt and Trinidadian uncle, Lisa and Burton Toney, are soca music performers and songwriters.
  • The song is a collaboration with Yo Gotti. The Memphis rapper tells Trainor that she is a queen who deserves better. The Massachusetts songstress said: "I'm so grateful that Yo Gotti did that for me. He didn't know me at all and I hit him up and called him and he was so polite and sweet and said 'of course I would be honoured.' I loved it and he killed it with a great verse."
  • This tropical kiss-off was one of 10 tracks that Ricky Reed (Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," Pitbull's "Fireball") produced for Thank You. The producer told Spin that he prodded Trainor into utilizing her childhood exposure to Caribbean music. "She's always been such a brilliant songwriter and singer," he said. "She was raised around Soca and Caribbean music, so all I did was say, 'Let's expose all this. Let's actually be less conscious about stylistically drilling it down to a certain thing, and experiment.' Once we wrote 'No,' we opened the Pandora's box that we couldn't close."
  • Rather than filming a video about a broken romantic relationship, the clip shows a beleaguered Trainor struggling with her troubled alcoholic grandfather. The singer's drunken grandad is played by acclaimed actor Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys, Bloodline), while Yo Gotti is the bartender who notifies Trainor of her intoxicated grandfather's antics.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.