Meghan Trainor to be Honored with Ascap Vanguard Award
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, will present multi-platinum, award-winning pop star and songwriter Meghan Trainor with its ASCAP Vanguard Award at the 34th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards Thursday, May 18. The same evening, ASCAP will also recognize acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren with its prestigious Founders Award. The exclusive, invitation-only gala, which celebrates the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most performed pop songs of 2016, takes place at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA.
The ASCAP Vanguard Award recognizes the impact of musical genres that help shape the future of American music. Previous ASCAP Vanguard Award honorees include Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, Beastie Boys, Beck, Björk, Sara Bareilles, Diplo, fun., Jack Johnson, The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Strokes, St. Vincent and Walk the Moon.
“Meghan has made incomparable strides in her career in the time that I’ve known her, but it has always been clear that her talent would take her above and beyond the pop charts,” said ASCAP EVP of Membership John Titta. “Whether she’s writing chart-topping songs for herself or someone else, we can’t wait to hear what Meghan does next.”
Meghan Trainor continues to break records, make history, inspire countless fans, and change the landscape of pop music and culture. She broke out in 2015 with her inescapable multi-platinum #1 Billboard Hot 100 smash, the award-winning “All About That Bass” (9x-platinum and 2015 ASCAP Pop Music Award for “Most Performed Song), followed by three more hits from her chart-dominating RIAA triple-platinum full-length debut, Title [Epic Records; 2015]: “Lips Are Movin” (4x-platinum), “Dear Future Husband” (2x-platinum), and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” [featuring John Legend] (3x-platinum). In 2015, Title not only bowed at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, it became the first #1 full-length debut from a female solo artist in five years. It stood out as one of only seven albums to sell over a million copies in 2015, was the #5 most streamed album globally in 2015 and is currently 3x platinum and has 2.6 billion streams worldwide. In 2016, Trainor won “Best New Artist” at the Grammy Awards and “Favorite Album” for Title at the 2016 People’s Choice Awards.
Last year, Trainor’s single “NO,” from her second full-length album, Thank You [Epic Records], exploded into one of her biggest anthems yet. In less than a month, it received a RIAA Gold certification for sales exceeding 500,000 track equivalent units, and is now 2x platinum. “NO” reached #1 on Billboard’s Digital Songs Chart and #3 on the Hot 100—marking her fourth Top 10 hit on that particular chart. The video for “NO” has been viewed nearly 430 million times and counting. The second single from Thank You, “Me Too” is 2x platinum and the album now has RIAA Gold status. Last month, Trainor released her new song, “I’m a Lady,” from Sony Pictures Animation’s film Smurfs: The Lost Village [Epic Records], and her co-write “Road Less Traveled” with country singer Lauren Alaina went #1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Trainor also wrote the #1 Rascal Flatts hit, “I Like the Sound of That,” along with songs for artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Fifth Harmony, Sabrina Carpenter and more. She has an astonishing 2 billion-plus video views on VEVO.
