Big Yellow Dog’s Carla Wallace Celebrates 10 Years Of ‘All About That Bass’ [Interview]

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Meghan Trainor & Big Yellow Dog Co-Owner Carla Wallace. Photo: Courtesy of Big Yellow Dog

It has been 10 years since the doo-wop-flavored, body positivity anthem “All About That Bass” was the undisputed song of the summer. After its release in June of 2014 via Epic Records, the now Diamond-certified track hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in Sept. 20, and launched Meghan Trainor‘s career into the stratosphere.

With her grand slam of a debut single, the songstress went on to release her major-label debut studio album, Title, which produced more hits such as “Lips Are Movin,” “Dear Future Husband” and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You.” She was named Best New Artist at the 2016 Grammy Awards, and has since released five more studio albums and received various accolades.

What some might not know, though, is that Trainor’s big break was launched in a bungalow on Nashville’s 16th Avenue in the offices of independent publishing and artist development company Big Yellow Dog Music.

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The company’s Co-Owner Carla Wallace first heard Trainor at a song camp in Colorado in 2009. She was impressed by the singer-songwriter’s musical tastes that gravitated toward soda-shop R&B, and her expression of her writing skills on the ukulele. To Wallace, who had made a career primarily in country music, it was a fresh and exciting take.

“I saw her get up on stage with her ukulele and play these songs, which was awesome,” Wallace recalls. “But I walked away with a CD that was full of songs she’d written and produced by herself and they were doo-wop, fifties, a lot of pop and some jazz all blended together. It was a crazy mix of stuff and it showed me that she was cool… and she was only 17!”

After Trainor graduated high school in her hometown of Nantucket, Wallace signed her to a publishing deal and started getting her in writer rooms in Nashville. She admits that it was tough finding co-writes for the pop-leaning creator at first.

“I couldn’t find anybody that was pop to write with her. It took me a long time to find the right people,” Wallace says. “Jesse Frasure and Brett James were the first ones [to give her a chance].”

One fateful day, Trainor showed up to write with a Nashville-based hitmaker Kevin Kadish, who had some hits with Christian pop singer Stacie Orrico, including “(There’s Gotta Be) More to Life” and “Stuck,” as well as success in country and other genres. It was the first time the two had met, and by the end of it, they had crafted what would become one of the biggest hits of the 2010s.

Pictured (L–R): Kelsey Wise (Rights Administrator at Exceleration Music), Alex Stefano (VP, Sync at BYD Music), Carla Wallace, Meghan Trainor, Lauren Funk Martin (VP, Publishing at Endurance Music) and Alessandra Alegre (Director of North America Tracking Analytics at Universal Music Publishing Group) at the “All About That Bass” No. 1 party in Nashville. Photo: Courtesy of Big Yellow Dog

“She came to the office and played it,” Wallace recalls. “You just immediately knew there was nothing like that. Just like anyone else would, [you ask yourself] what do we do with this? Like any great song, you kind of have to live with it. I sent it to everybody. I sent it to tons of labels. I sent it to lots of different people and nobody got it at first.”

A songwriter first and foremost, Trainor’s initial reaction was to find the right artist to pitch “All About That Bass” to. “We pitched it around to a lot of different places and nobody was interested,” Wallace says. “Obviously it just needed the right person, and she was it.”

While the demo for “All About That Bass” was making its rounds and being passed on for its stark contrast to the hits on the radio, Epic Records executive Paul Pontius happened to make a trip to Nashville, where he heard the track and was immediately intrigued.

“He stopped in here and I played the song for him. He was like, ‘Who is that? What is that? He went back to Los Angeles and played it for L.A. Reid,” she recalls. “They called and said, ‘We gotta meet this girl. That’s a smash.’ Thank God for somebody with really great ears.”

Soon, Trainor was in a meeting with some of the most powerful executives in pop music. They signed her and began introducing her, and “All About That Bass,” to the world. The tune stayed at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks, and also topped charts in 58 countries, including the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

“Meghan was shopping for candles at Bed Bath & Beyond when she got the call to be on the Today show,” Wallace remembers. “From there, it just took off.”

Back in Nashville, folks on Music Row were high-fiving Wallace and scratching their heads while they watched the song nobody know what to do with fly up the all-genre charts.

“When ‘Bass’ came out, I was so concerned at the time for her to tell anybody that she was in Nashville. I thought people would immediately stamp her as a country artist,” Wallace says. “Later, I changed my tune and [encouraged her to share] that she did come from Nashville, the songwriting capital of the world.

“After that, I noticed more people outside of Nashville being sent here to scope out Music Row.”

While there were plenty of pop hits to come out of Nashville before “All About That Bass,” the massive success of the smash single definitely reminded the world of the songwriting prowess of Music City. With “country culture” in full effect, the admiration of those that create the hits on Music Row has never been stronger.

10 years later, Wallace remembers the epic song every day when the Nashville trolley tour buses pass her office blaring the hit. It serves as the ultimate reminder to follow her gut and pursue what you believe in, even if no one else does.

LB Cantrell
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