Page 46 - People (February 2020)

n 2014 Meghan Trainor burst onto the pop
scene with her joyful, body-positive breakout
single “All About That Bass.” The Nantucket
native has since notched five more Top 20
hits and nabbed the Best New Artist Grammy
I in 2016. But as her star rose, Trainor faced
setbacks, undergoing risky procedures to repair
vocal cord hemorrhages in 2015 and again in
2017. After her second surgery she worried she
might never sing again, and that stress spiraled

into panic disorder (see box). Now, with her
anxiety under control, Trainor, 26, hopes to
fuel conversation about mental health with her
third album, Treat Myself, which features A-list
collaborators such as Nicki Minaj. Her marriage
to Spy Kids star Daryl Sabara, 27, and learning
to prioritize her health helped her find a better
balance. “I figured out my anxiety, I figured out New Life, New Goals
“I’m good with my one Grammy. My biggest
how to be happy with my career, I figured out love,
bucket-list item is to do a voice-over in a Disney
and I have one of the best families of all time,” movie,” Trainor says. “I want to be able to
says Trainor. “I got a dope life!” sell out an arena—and then make a ton of kids!”

You haven’t released an album in almost four
1 years. Why the wait?
There has been such a change in pop music over

2 the years that it never felt like the right time for
me to come out with my music until now. I basi-
cally wrote three albums—at least 50 songs—to get
this one. It’s a nice mix; any person who plays this PANIC

album will find at least one song that they like. DISORDER
Why did you name the record Treat Myself? Panic disorder
is a condition in
My therapist blew my mind with this: If you which a person
go through a really hard patch of anxiety, and suffers recurrent,
you get out of it, you should reward yourself. unexpected panic
attacks—defined by
So my big thing that I’m working on in life right the Mayo Clinic as
now is treating myself and being good to myself “a sudden episode
because it’s a very hard thing to do—including of intense fear that
triggers severe
3 taking care of my health and even how I talk physical reaction
about myself. My husband will catch me being when there is no real
like, “I’m huge today” or “I feel so ugly,” and he’ll danger or apparent
cause.” Trainor
be like, “Hey, tell yourself you’re pretty. You’re sought treatment
beautiful—remind yourself.” through therapy and
4 Where did that anxiety stem from? medication. “There’s
still that stigma”
I was working really hard, and I kept having to about mental-health
cancel tours [to undergo vocal cord surgeries]. I problems and
was like, “This is all I have, this is my life—if I can’t treating them with
drugs, she says. “The
sing, I can’t work.” It turned into a lot of sleepless best thing my doctor
nights and a lot of scary panic. I went to the emer- ever told me was,
F
Fame & amily gency room a couple of times because I thought ‘You use an inhaler
1. “I didn’t know that song would blow up—it just for your lungs, right?
happened by accident,” Trainor says of her breakout my throat was closing from an allergic reaction, Why can’t you use
hit “All About That Bass.” 2. Performing with and the doctor was like, “This is a panic attack.” medicine to fix your
John Legend in 2015. 3. At her December 2018 wedding How did you get a handle on your mental health? brain?’ That’s what
with Sabara, whom she calls “my best friend.” got my parents to
4. “This is just my childhood dream of an album,” My doctors diagnosed me with panic disorder. understand what was
Trainor says of Treat Myself. They were like, “Your chemicals are way imbal- happening with me.”

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