No (Meghan Trainor song)

Background and recording

In an interview with Fuse's Jason Lipshutz, Trainor stated the song is "a big anthem for ladies about telling a dude, 'Nah, I'm good—I’m out here on my own, and I'm good with it.'" She also said, "The scene is me in a club, and the dude comes up to me and I go, 'No no no. I don't need your hands all over me. I'm good. I'm gonna dance on my own with my girls.'" Billboard gave a preview of the lyrics: "My name is 'no'/My number is 'no.'" Musically, she described the material as "something that's not on the radio" and "different." Trainor wanted "No" to resemble the Britney Spears song "Overprotected", as well as the music of NSYNC and Destiny's Child. Referring to the meeting, Trainor revealed that label director L.A. Reid had told the singer she then lacked a proper lead single for her upcoming album: "he said I have an album of Nice Meghan." Trainor said it took little time to craft the song with producer Ricky Reed, explaining: "I told my producer we needed a big eff-you song, an anthem about girl power that sounded like nothing on the album. We wrote it that day." She added: "I was too scared to go by myself [play the final result for Reid]. L.A. played it 29 times--and we kept counting. I’ll never forget that moment." Ultimately, the song changed the direction of its parent album, as they started experimenting with new musical styles and produced six more tracks.

Composition

Lyrically, the song discusses men who approach women and "can’t take the hint" when their advances are rejected. Musically "No" is a dance-pop and R&B song that draws some influence from doo-wop, with ripping guitars leading instrumentation. The song opens with modern doo-wop vocals, before it charges up into an early millennium-pop vibe with its beat and crunchy guitar; for Billboard's Joe Lynch "there's a twist - the retro music plays through an old-timey crackle, and then it suddenly comes to a stop. A massive, Neptunes-esque beat kicks in."

Trainor half-sings, half-raps: "My name is no / My sign is no / My number is no / You need to let it go." Music Times' Carolyn Menyes noted influences from early 2000s girl groups and pop stars a la In the Zone, from Britney Spears, and NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me". According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by WAMA, Inc., "No" is written in the key of C♯ minor in common time. The song begins with a tempo of 73 beats per minute for the introduction before increasing to 94 beats per minute. Trainor's vocals span one and a half octaves throughout the song, from G♯₃ to C♯₅.

Critical reception

Writing for Billboard, Joe Lynch stated Trainor "is making one thing clear from outset of her new song 'NO,' it's that there's a lot more to Meghan Trainor than what you think you know." He added: "Trainor was confident on 'Bass,' but on 'NO,' she's entirely in charge." In a positive review, Brennan Carley from Spin wrote that "No" "is definitely a new direction for Trainor, who's mostly tossing aside her sock-hopping persona for no-nonsense truth-telling." Digital Spy's Amy Davidson described the song as "gloriously '90s". Forbes contributor Hugh McIntyre described it as "a noticeable departure from her previous hits. It's sultrier and a little more aggressive."

Carolyn Menyes from Music Times wrote that "No" "is the sort of anthem that women have been looking for. She sings in an out-of-character show of female empowerment and independence." Lucy Bacon of MTV News also called it a "girl power anthem." Also noting the early 2000s sound, Lucas Villa of AXS wrote, "Trainor's latest time warp to the peaks of Britney Spears and *NSYNC served up with a side of her signature sass is a big yes in our book." Mike Wass of Idolator praised the song, describing it as "slinky, turn-of-the-millennium R&B/pop" and tipped it as a cross between Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child. Billboard ranked "No" at number 100 on their "Billboard's 100 Best Pop Songs of 2016: Critics' Picks" list, writing "After decades of men singing to women they know 'want it' on the dance floor, Meghan Trainor hits the club and K.O.'s the entitled male ego with one simple word: 'No.' This song is what happens between "Dear Future Husband" and actually finding that husband – you shut down a lot of bull."

In a negative review, Time named "No" the eighth-worst song of 2016, noting that Trainor "has been criticized in the past for espousing anti-feminist messages in her lyrics and interviews, and 'No,' on its surface, seemed like a corrective." The staff called the song's message "flimsy" and its melody "uninspired and repetitive," while also asserting that it "showcases what some have called her 'blaccent,' a noteworthy example of the kind of cultural appropriation that has plagued popular music throughout its history."

Chart performance

"No" debuted at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated March 26, 2016, marking her highest entrance among seven entries so far. The single opened at number 2 on Digital Songs with 113,000 sold in its first week of release. "No" also debuted at number 21 on Radio Songs (46 million in airplay audience), marking the highest debut on the chart since Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" had debuted at number 6 more than five years prior. Also, "No" added 3.3 million first-week domestic streams, even without an official music video or audio on Trainor's Vevo channel. In its third week, "No" entered the Hot 100's top ten on the chart dated 9 April 2016, ascending from 12 to 6 and becoming her fourth top-ten hit. The song marked her fastest climb to the top ten, besting the four-week ascent of "All About That Bass". Additionally, "No" became Trainor's second number-one song on the Digital Songs chart, after selling 128,000 downloads during that week. The following week, besides descending to number 2 on the Digital Songs chart with 147,000 downloads sold, "No" ascended from 6 to 3 on the Hot 100, becoming Trainor's second top-three song. "No" debuted at number 59 on the UK Singles Chart, and later reached number 11.

As of October 2016, "No" has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States.

Music video

In an interview with Time, Trainor confirmed the filming of the accompanying music video took place on March 4, 2016. The music video was released on March 21, 2016 on Trainor's Vevo page. Visually darker than her previous clips, the singer joins a female dance troupe in a warehouse. Joe Lynch from Billboard opined: "Trainor gives serious early '00s Britney and mid '90s Madonna vibes. It's a much sexier look than we're used to seeing from Trainor, but she owns it." For Fuse's Emilee Lindner, Trainor is "shedding the bubblegum pink and pastel blues of her Title era and delving in the darkness of her new brown-haired persona." As of February 2017 it has over 410 million views on YouTube.

Live performances and cover versions

Trainor performed "No" live for the first time at the 3rd iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 3, 2016. She performed the track on The Graham Norton Show on April 8, on The Voice UK final on April 9, and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 20. Trainor was set to perform at the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards, but did not do so. She was scheduled, as of early June 2016, to perform the selection at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

A-cappella group Pentatonix covered "No" in a video released via their YouTube channel, in April 2016. The song was also covered by Allison Iraheta and other alumni at the series finale of American Idol on April 7, 2016.

Usage in other media

The song is featured in the television series Superstore.