Music Friday: Meghan Trainor's 'MTRAIN' Necklace Stars in Her 'Me Too' Video

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. In today’s installment, Meghan Trainor shows off her gold-and-diamond “MTRAIN” necklace in the viral video for her 2016 hit single, “Me Too.”

In this song about self-love, body image and empowerment, Trainor sings, “What’s that icy thing hangin’ ’round my neck? / That’s gold, show me some respect.”

Viewed a staggering 714 million times, the official video includes an extreme closeup of Trainor’s necklace, with MTRAIN spelled out in raised gold letters on a framed plaque adorned with two bezel-set diamonds.

Trainor, the 2016 Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist, co-wrote “Me Too” with Jason Derulo and three other collaborators. It was released as the second single from her studio album, Thank You, and quickly ascended to #13 on US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song sold three million copies in the US and charted in 15 other countries.

Interestingly, the official video for the song was released on May 9 and quickly pulled by Trainor the same day after the artist learned that her image was digitally manipulated, apparently to make her waist look thinner.

On Snapchat, Trainor commented, “My waist is not that teeny. I didn’t approve that video and it went out for the world, so I’m embarrassed.”

One day later, a new, unaltered version of the video was released.

Trainer famously referenced Photoshop editing in her mega-hit “All About That Bass” when she sang, “I see the magazines working that Photoshop, we know that ain’t real, come on now make it stop.”

The 29-year-old Trainor rose to fame after releasing Title in 2015. That chart-topping album produced three Top-10 singles and sold more than a million copies in the US alone. Trainor is one of only 21 female artists to have her debut single peak at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Please check out Trainor’s official video of “Me Too.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

“Me Too”
Written by Meghan Trainor, Eric Frederic, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jason Derulo and Peter Svensson. Performed by Meghan Trainor.

Who’s that sexy thing I see over there?
That’s me, standin’ in the mirror
What’s that icy thing hangin’ ’round my neck?
That’s gold, show me some respect

I thank God every day
That I woke up feelin’ this way
And I can’t help lovin’ myself
And I don’t need nobody else, nuh uh

If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too

I walk in like a dime piece
I go straight to V.I.P.
I never pay for my drinks
My entourage behind me
My life’s a movie, Tom Cruise
So bless me, baby, achoo
And even if they tried to
They can’t do it like I do

I thank God every day
That I woke up feelin’ this way
And I can’t help lovin’ myself
And I don’t need nobody else, nuh uh

If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too

(Turn the bass up)
Turn the bass up
(Turn the bass up)
Let’s go!

I thank God every day
That I woke up feelin’ this way
And I can’t help lovin’ myself
And I don’t need nobody else, nuh uh

If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
If I was you, I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too
I’d wanna be me too

Credits: Screen captures via Youtube / Meghan Trainor.

Prince Harry Says Popular Myth Tied to His Mom's Engagement Ring Is 'Nonsense'

In his new tell-all book, Spare, Prince Harry bursts the bubble on the popular myth that he inherited his late mother Princess Diana's iconic sapphire and diamond engagement ring, but then selflessly offered it to his older brother, Prince William, to use for his proposal to Kate Middleton in 2010.

According to the original account — attributed to Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell — after Diana died tragically in 1997, her sons, then 15 and 12, were given an opportunity to select a keepsake from their mom’s possessions. Prince William picked a Cartier watch that his mom received on her 21st birthday and Harry got the sapphire engagement ring.

Burrell went on the explain that Diana’s ring was in Harry’s possession for 12 years, but when William broke the news to his brother that he was about to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Kate, the younger brother said, “Wouldn’t it be fitting if she had mummy’s ring? Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England.”

In his newly released memoir, the Duke of Sussex calls the story "nonsense."

In fact, it was William, not Harry, who had asked for the sapphire ring after their mom's passing. Harry did not object to his brother's request, and since he did not possess the ring, the sweet, noble scene described by Burrell could not have occurred.

Harry explained that the first time he got wind of his brother's engagement was when Buckingham Palace made the formal announcement in November of 2010. The brothers had traveled to Lesotho during the summer of 2010, but William did not mention at that time that he planned to propose.

This is not the first time Princess Diana's engagement ring has been cloaked in controversy. In 1981, the then-20-year-old Lady Diana shocked some members of the British royal family when she picked her engagement ring from the Garrard catalog.

In Diana’s eyes, the 18-karat white gold ring set with a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded by a halo of 14 round white diamonds was perfect. She loved it so much that she didn’t request any modifications or customizations.

Naysayers claimed that the ring was sub-standard because it was a stock item. They called it a “commoner’s ring” because any non-royal with a $60,000 budget could have purchased the exact piece.

Credits: Prince Harry photo by DoD News, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Princess Diana photo by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA (Archived link), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Engagement ring replica by Ann Porteus from Tasmania, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry in 2013 by Carfax2, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Vast Stretches of Opal-Rich 'Halos' on Mars Add Evidence of Its Watery Past

A research team analyzing archived data from NASA’s Curiosity rover have identified fractures and "halo" networks along the Martian landscape that are likely rich in opal. Since the iridescent gem is formed from water and silica, the findings provide additional evidence that the Red Planet had a watery past that could have supported microbial life.

Back in 2012, NASA sent the Curiosity rover to Mars to explore Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide impact basin with a massive, layered mountain in the middle. The mission was supposed to last for three years, but was extended indefinitely as Curiosity continued to deliver invaluable information.

Researchers from Arizona State University have dug into the Curiosity rover's vast archive of images and found that these opal-rich "halos" of lighter-colored rock weren't isolated. Rather, they appear to exist all over Gale Crater. Curiosity's onboard neutron spectrometer was able to independently verify that fracture halos contained water-rich opal.

"Our new analysis of archival data showed striking similarity between all of the fracture halos we've observed much later in the mission," noted lead study author Travis Gabriel, who is currently a research physicist at the U.S. Geological Survey. "Seeing that these fracture networks were so widespread and likely chock-full of opal was incredible."

The researchers also noted that the vast subsurface fracture networks would have provided water-rich and radiation-shielded conditions that were potentially more habitable than those on the surface, where temperatures can descend to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit at night and reach barely 30 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

The findings were recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Looking forward, the presence of so much opal on the surface of Mars could have implications for space travelers because the structure of October's birthstone contains between 3% and 20% water.

Theoretically, when the opal is ground down and heated, the water can be extracted. The research team estimated that a 1-meter-long specimen could contain up to 5.7 liters (1.5 gallons) of water in the top 0.3 meters from the surface.

In February of 2021, NASA placed a second rover, Perseverance, on the surface of Mars. That research vehicle is currently searching for signs of life in the Jezero Crater, which is also suspected to be rich in opal-like material.

Here on Earth, fine opals are sourced mainly in Australia. Scientists believe that between 100 million and 97 million years ago, Australia’s vast inland sea, which was populated by marine dinosaurs, began retreating. As the sea regressed, a rare episode of acidic weather was taking place, exposing pyrite minerals and releasing sulphuric acid. As the surface of the basin dried further and cracked, silica-rich gel became trapped in the veins of the rock. Over time, the silica solidified to form opals.

In precious opal, the silica spheres are uniform in size and are stacked into an orderly arrangement, which gives the structure the ability to break visible white light into separate colors.

Credits: Curiosity rover image by NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Martian terrain image by Malin Space Science Systems/NASA/JPL-Caltech. Opal image by Dpulitzer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.