Initially a songwriter for other artists, in 2013, Trainor signed with the label the following year and began recording material she co-wrote with Kevin Kadish.

Title is a doo-wop, pop, blue-eyed soul, and R&B record, with elements of Caribbean, hip hop, reggae, and soca music.

Inspired by past relationships and her insecurities about body image, Trainor wrote songs she wished existed before she attended high school.

It also produced the Billboard Hot 100 top-15 singles "Lips Are Movin", "Dear Future Husband", and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You", the last of which features John Legend and peaked at number one in Australia, New Zealand, and Poland.

Title debuted at number one on charts in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, and spent multiple weeks at the summit in Australia and New Zealand.

[1] She began performing her compositions and soca music as part of the cover band Island Fusion, which included her aunt, younger brother, and father.

[1][2] Though Trainor had been offered a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music, she decided to pursue her songwriting career and signed with Big Yellow Dog in 2012.

[10][11] He shared the idea with Trainor after the two bonded over Jimmy Soul's 1963 single "If You Wanna Be Happy", and they decided to create the extended play (EP) Title (2014) with the same sound, "just for fun".

"[16] Trainor wrote "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" (2015) with fellow songwriters Justin Weaver and Caitlyn Smith while working in Music Row, and intended to pitch it to Kelly Clarkson.

[19] She wanted to continue the doo-wop vibe of the album's preceding singles, and simultaneously showcase influences of Caribbean music, rapping, and Fugees.

[20] Trainor considered it distinctive and disparate from popular music at the time: "it's got the throwback in there, but I snuck some reggae in there and clever fun lyrics and catchy melodies".

[22] Trainor intended the album to be a source of empowerment for young people; she wished some of its songs existed before she attended high school.

[30] Title comprises three-part harmonies, handclaps, finger-clicks,[31] acoustic bass guitar,[9] bubblegum pop melodies,[32] and reggae and soca riddims.

[33] According to Jim Farber of the New York Daily News, the album's Caribbean music tracks were inspired by Trainor's Tobago-born uncle, and Millie Small's song "My Boy Lollipop" (1964).

[38] Writing for The Seattle Times, Paul de Barros noted that Title focuses on adult themes, and Trainor occasionally employs profanity on it.

[62] The former is a doo-wop song with Caribbean music influences and a ska-inflected bridge,[5][28][55] on which she refuses to be friends with benefits and pushes her partner to define their relationship more clearly.

[63][64] The penultimate track of the standard edition is "What If I", a 1950s-style ballad with string instrumentation,[39] which contemplates the dangers of first-date sex and is lyrically reminiscent of The Shirelles's 1960 single "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow".

[37] The final track, "Lips Are Movin", is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop,[65] and Motown bounce song,[30] with lyrics inspired by Trainor's frustrations with her record label.

[15] Reviewers including The Tennessean's Dave Paulson and MTV News' Christina Garibaldi deemed it a song about leaving a significant other after being cheated on, an interpretation Kadish is open to.

[66] "No Good for You", the first of the four bonus songs on the deluxe edition, contains elements of ska,[37] with Trainor offering her opinion about a troublesome man in its lyrics.

[76] Trainor's 2014 EP of the same name, which included "All About That Bass", "Dear Future Husband", "Close Your Eyes", and the title track, was released on September 9, 2014.

[a][83] The lyrics caused controversy; some critics called the song anti-feminist and accused Trainor of body shaming thin women.

[36] Farber complimented her vocals and wit-laden style of songwriting but thought the album "crosses the line from confident to smug", and noted her self-harmonizing as emblematic of its "[emphasis on] the image of self-containment".

[34] Brown described it as "relentlessly cute" and a showcase of "plenty of wit and watertight tunes", but advised Trainor to "read more self-help than she spouts".

Marc Hirsh of The Boston Globe considered the album "more of the same" as "All About That Bass" and censured Trainor for pillaging herself, but was positive of its sassy attitude and catchiness.

[57] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood opined that it "offers a dozen variations" of her debut single and derided its opposing themes as "unexamined", accusing her of appropriating the vocal patterns of black artists.

[107] Wilson noted that aside from her "understandable naïveté", her foibles are "stylistic cherry-picking" and a "compulsion to appear adorably relatable and socially correct", which she would be wise to eschew for a long-lasting career.

[31] Erlewine opined that though Title was marred by "echoes" of "All About That Bass", it proved Trainor is smart enough to channel "a big hit into a real career".

[30] In the US, Title debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 issued for January 31, 2015, with 238,000 album-equivalent units during its first week, replacing Taylor Swift's 1989 at the top of the chart.

Keith Caufield of Billboard wrote that its debut-week tally included 195,000 in pure sales and that it was "an impressive figure, considering January is traditionally a sleepy month for big new releases".