There’s a lot to like and to question on Meghan “All About That Bass” Trainor’s debut album, sung like 21st-century R&B, but imagined in the milk bars of the early 60s, where the Shirelles reigned supreme. The message is self-respect, but it’s the kind dressed in pastels: Dear Future Husband suggests Trainor isn’t the sort of feminist who’s going to single parent by choice after a lucky dip at the sperm bank. The success of Lips Are Movin’ confirms that she’s no Eamon-style one-hit wonder; but Trainor might do well to study Duffy’s fate.
