NEW YORK: When playing songs from her upcoming sophomore album for her record label, Meghan Trainor heard this word from L.A. Reid: “No.”

Reid, the veteran executive and Epic Records president, was referring to her first single. She didn’t have one, he said.

Angry and upset, Trainor called producer Ricky Reed. They had collaborated on some of the songs she’d played for Reid, and in a day, they created “No,” the anthemic, beat-driven, Destiny’s Child-influenced hit that’s a departure from her signature doo-wop pop sound.

“I wrote ‘No,’ and he was like, ‘Give me five of these.’ And we wrote five more songs,” Trainor said in a recent interview. “It was such a relief, like I could sleep at night knowing I finally found the single. That’s like the biggest stress for an artist, especially (for) album No. 2.”

“No,” which has already peaked at No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, isn’t about L.A. Reid. It’s a song about boys and female empowerment. Reed, frontman for Wallpaper and a producer behind songs for Jason Derulo, Twenty One Pilots and Pitbull, said creating the tune was like opening Pandora’s box.

Of the songs on her new album, 22-year-old Trainor says with a laugh: “Songs like that wouldn’t exist if L.A. Reid didn’t push me till I wanted to cry.”

The new album, “Thank You,” will be released May 13. Trainor has taken a more contemporary vibe compared with her 2015 debut, “Title,” which featured the hits “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” “Dear Future Husband,” “Lips Are Movin’” and the game-changer “All About That Bass.”