Meghan Trainor used TikTok to share her feelings about her 2015 onstage kiss with fellow musician Charlie Puth.
The pair were performing their collaborative song "Marvin Gaye" at the 2015 American Music Awards when Trainor seemingly decided to kiss Puth on national television. The pair passionately kissed onstage with the video of their performance racking up over 109 million views on YouTube.
Almost seven years after that incident, Trainor has reflected on that time in her life, comparing the highs and lows of her early 20s.
Late on Tuesday night, Trainor uploaded a 15-second video which showed her dancing to "Hal Walker Plays the Banakulas" with words written onscreen. She shimmies on camera to the text "All About That Bass hitting #1 in 2014" before twerking underneath the text "Winning a Grammy in 2016."
Changing tone completely, Trainor stands with an unimpressed face as the text onscreen reads "Making the decision to kiss Charlie Puth on national television in 2015."
The TikTok video was a hit with fans with 5.1 million views, over 883,000 likes, and thousands of comments and shares.
"The way I gasped," TikToker Anthony Gargiula commented while musical TikTok influencer Jax wrote, "Hahahaha it was honestly the best day of my life. Have no ragrets."
Verified TikTok user Liv Pearsall called the moment a "cultural reset" while the the girl group Citizen Queen commented that all three events Trainor listed were "iconic moments in pop history."
The incident caused a stir at the time with Puth discussing what happened on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. "Meghan is my best friend," he explained, "We teased it in the video too where it like cuts off [before we kiss], and it's all a visual aesthetic for what the song is."
Some passionate Puth fans spoke out against Trainor's TikTok video on Twitter. "Stop using Charlie Puth for clout challenge, Meghan Trainor" one fan tweeted while another warned Trainor to "Stay away from him" and told her "ur not even funny."
"Y'all are so rude to this woman and I will never understand why," @melroxburgh said coming to Trainor's defense, "She legitimately just minds her business and joins in on trends."
The song "Marvin Gaye" reached just number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 but topped the charts in France, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Trainor is currently preparing to release her fifth studio album, Takin' It Back.
The first single from that album "Bad for Me" featuring Teddy Swims is out now. Takin' It Back is due out on Friday October 21, 2022.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
