Title (song)
Anthony Phan directed the music video for "Title", which depicts Trainor performing at a Mr. America-style beauty pageant.
Initially released exclusively on the special edition of Trainor's 2015 debut major-label studio album, Title, the video was uploaded online in December 2021.
Kadish liked Trainor's voice and felt a strong song-writing affinity with her due to their mutual love of pop music from the 1950s and 1960s.
[1] "All About That Bass" was released as Trainor's debut single in June 2014,[4] and it reached number one in 58 countries, selling 11 million units worldwide.
[10] Kadish went to New York to meet with Reid after writing the song "Lips Are Movin" (2014) with Trainor, and he voiced his regret about not having it ready in time for the EP and its potential release as the follow-up single.
[3][21] The song fuses horns and backing vocals "with ukulele folk-pop and island percussion", transitioning into a programmed beat, according to Stereogum's Chris DeVille.
[22] MTV News's Christina Garibaldi thought it elicits a "throwback vibe" from its "infectious" beat, and DeVille defined it as "modern-retro pastiche".
[24][25] L. V. Anderson of Slate described the song as "the cri de coeur of a woman who's tired of being seen as a casual hookup by the man in her life".
[23] Its lyrical theme is the same as "Dear Future Husband",[26] which led Knoxville News Sentinel and DeVille to compare the songs.
[20] Anderson found her intentions understandable and was in awe of her confidence, but he thought that "every line of 'Title' perpetuates a retrograde belief about relationships" and sets a horrible precedent for young women.
[27] DeVille wrote that though he does not find "DJ scratching and rewind sounds" progressive and extravagant, the song turned out to be cutting and sprightly.
[20] Toronto Star's Ben Rayner wrote that it is "whitewashed into a fairly anodyne mush", and he declared its "hip-hop bump and plush bassline" an attempt to make Trainor's "old-timey aesthetic" feel contemporary.
[28] Garibaldi was positive about her rap verse, but Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine thought it lacked authenticity and that Trainor deserved the same sort of criticism from hip-hop reviewers as that received by Iggy Azalea.
[31][32][33] Anthony Phan directed the music video for "Title", which was shot at a downtown movie palace in Los Angeles on October 7, 2014.
[34][3] In it, Trainor performs "Title" at a Miss America–style pageant, where all of the contestants are muscular men instead of women, while her brother Ryan films them.
[49][50] "Title" charted at number 100 on the US Billboard Hot 100 issued for January 10, 2015, and received a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.
