Meghan Trainor expresses her gratitude for T-Pain’s contribution to her upcoming album with a full spread in the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper. Read more about this unexpected duo and watch T-Pain’s reaction inside.

The pair recently dropped a new single, “Been Like This,” from Trainor’s upcoming sixth album, Timeless. The Grammy award-wining pop singer describes working with T-Pain as a dream come true. The only way to fully express her sincerest appreciation for the “Buy U A Drank” rapper was with a full-page Atlanta newspaper advertisement in the AJC.

On Tuesday (Mar. 19), Trainor stopped by an episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” to share their exciting collaboration and news of her upcoming album. The singer shared that she initially made the song on her own before sending to T-Pain, who “didn’t respond” for awhile.

When T-Pain got a hold of it, Trainor remembers, “He was like, ‘I love it, whoa!’ And I was like, ‘Are you going to do a verse?’ And he’s like, ‘For sure.’ And then like, never responded. I was like, ‘He hates me.’”

Trainor revealed that T-Pain is her “favorite artist,” so she felt reached out again to recruit him for the single.

“Then finally, on my 30th birthday, he came and surprised me at my house. [He] was like, ‘Happy birthday. I did the verse. I’m sorry I ghosted you. Boom!’ And played it,” she recalled.

To celebrate the release of their long-awaited collaboration “Been Like This,” Trainor took out a full spread in the AJC. T-Pain took to TikTok, showing fans the ad in a video and sharing his excitement and appreciation to Trainor for her thoughtfulness.

“This is the craziest s— that anybody’s ever done, period,” T-Pain expressed in the video. “Look, it’s the actual f—ing newspaper, bro!”

The legendary rapper began to read Trainor’s kind words from the ad aloud.

“This is a letter of appreciation for the one and only T-Pain. The first time I heard your music, I knew I had found my favorite artist of all time. Your musicality and lyrics blew my mind,” she wrote.

“Rhyming ‘Wisconsin’ with ‘mansion’ is expert level songwriting and it motivated me to no end,” Trainor added in the spread, referencing his 2008 single “Can’t Believe It” featuring Lil Wayne. “You inspired me to be the artist I am today. Thank you for paving the way for not only me, but an entire generation of music makers.”

Meghan also credited T-Pain for “changing the game and how songs are made,” thanking him “for being the kindest, most humble hero.”

“I cannot believe we got to collaborate and create a song together. I’m still in shock and feel like I’m living in a dream world. I’m forever grateful to you for you and your music have impacted my life,” Trainor said. “Thank you, T-Pain, for making my dreams come true music with me. You’ve Been Like This since birth, I love you.”

Check out the advertisement below:

During her interview on “Live with Kelly and Mark,” Trainor also teased an upcoming video for the single “Been Like This.”

Check out T-Pain’s reaction to the full-spread advertisement below: