Much like the strict mathematical calculations used to manufacture successful pop music, Meghan Trainor has struck upon a precise mathematical formula in her new “Better” video to evoke the strongest sad feeling possible: picking up your alcoholic grandpa from jail again + a trembling elderly hand attempting to light a candle + a cycle of addiction and arrest + a picture of toddler = despair. While Trainor’s song is clearly about a lover, the references to deserving “better” in her video could be about almost anything: a better support system, a better treatment for pill addiction, a better grandpa, a better space for one’s hardscrabble hair salon, you name it.
