Meghan Trainor
Meghan Trainor first rose to fame with her debut single “All About That Bass” in 2014. While she has been a successful artist in the music industry, she has also been criticized for using a blaccent, or a black accent, in her music.
Trainor has faced criticism for using this accent in her music, as it has been perceived by some as an attempt to profit off of black culture without giving credit where it is due. In 2016, writer Carvell Wallace centered their “Stolen Language” piece around Trainor’s alleged appropriating of Black culture. They used her single “No” as an example of the Nantucket, MA native seemingly trying to use a “blaccent” in parts of the song.
“I be like, nah” — that’s the habitual/continuative aspect, a common feature of AAVE, for all you linguists out there.],” the writer quips.
Some critics argue that Trainor’s use of a blaccent is not genuine and is simply a way of appropriating black culture for her own benefit. They argue that Trainor has not faced the same struggles and challenges as black artists and therefore should not be appropriating their culture.
