Takin' It Back is the fifth major-label studio album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Epic Records released the album on October 21, 2022. Trainor worked with producers including Federico Vindver, Gian Stone, Kid Harpoon, and Tyler Johnson. Featured artists include Scott Hoying, Teddy Swims, Theron Theron, Natti Natasha, and Arturo Sandoval. It is a doo-wop and bubblegum pop album, which Trainor conceived as a return to the sound of her debut major-label studio album, Title (2015), after its title track went viral on TikTok. Takin' It Backs lyrical themes revolve around motherhood and self-acceptance.
Trainor promoted Takin' It Back with public appearances and televised performances on programs such as The Today Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The album was supported by two singles, "Bad for Me" and "Made You Look". The latter peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Trainor's first song to enter its top 20 since 2016, and reached the top 10 in other countries. Reviewers thought the album effectively showcased Trainor's maturity and growth over her career as well as her musicality, but they were divided on whether it was a progression from her earlier work. Takin' It Back debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200 and reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. A deluxe edition of the album, supported by the single "Mother", was released on March 10, 2023.
Background and development
Meghan Trainor achieved commercial success with her debut major-label studio album, Title (2015), which produced three top-10 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100. She struggled while creating her third album with Epic Records, Treat Myself (2020), and rewrote it four times in an attempt to respond to market shifts in the music industry after the preceding singles underperformed. After the song "Title" attained viral popularity on video-sharing service TikTok in 2021, Trainor announced her intention to return to its parent album's doo-wop sound on her fifth major-label studio album. TikTok was highly influential on her creative process, and she began writing material that would resonate with audiences on it. Trainor gained popularity on it while regularly sharing clips and other content with influencer Chris Olsen. She used TikTok to engage with global audiences, after traditional methods of promotion were ineffective for her last album, and started planning "TikTok days" on which she would film videos.
Producers of Takin' It Back include Trainor and her brother Justin, Federico Vindver, Gian Stone, Teddy Geiger, Afterhrs, Rafa, Kid Harpoon, and Tyler Johnson. Vindver, producer of three tracks for Trainor's Christmas album A Very Trainor Christmas (2020), contributed eight tracks. Stone, whom she had wished to work with since hearing his production on Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber's 2020 single "Stuck with U", produced four tracks for the standard edition of Takin' It Back. Trainor would write a chorus for each song before going into sessions, but she doubted the quality. Her collaborators on previous albums would dismiss ideas she had conceived prior to sessions, but Trainor started the material worked on for Takin' It Back alone. Trainor believed her songwriting improved since having a caesarean section during the birth of her son, as she learned to love her body again after sustaining stretch marks and a scar.
After songwriter Mozella told Trainor that other artists wished to emulate her signature doo-wop sound, they wrote the song "Don't I Make It Look Easy". Trainor felt the song would delight listeners, reminiscent of her feelings after writing "Dear Future Husband" (2015), and she decided on Takin' It Back as the album title. She described the album's material as "big, powerful songs that mean a lot"; the subject matter revolves around her experiences with motherhood and embracing "not [being] perfect all the time". Trainor stated: "it's true to myself in all the weird genres that I go to, but also modern with my doo-wop in there. The lyrics are stronger than ever, and it's still a party."
Composition
The digital edition of Takin' It Back contains 16 tracks; on physical editions, the track "Remind Me" is exclusive to the Target version. It predominantly has a doo-wop and bubblegum pop sound. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Takin' It Back minimally employs electronic elements and comprises mainly old-timey but contemporarily presented tracks. Peter Piatkowski of PopMatters thought that along with the 1950s, the album was influenced by Motown, Carole King's Brill Building music, and the 1970s.