Maren Morris on her highly anticipated new music: “Don’t be trying to sound like the guys!”
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I LOOOOOVE Maren Morris. I think she’s a boss and her first album was incredible. Hero earned her a major voice in country music, a Grammy award, countless nominations…the girl can sing. Album #2 is heard to be finished and approved by her label, which means it won’t be long until you’re hearing her new single off JR Country! In a recent interview with Taste of Country before the 2018 CMA Awards she spilled some serious deets!
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TOC: You tweeted that a pearl without pressure wouldn’t be a pearl at all. Is that applicable to this new album making process?
MM: I think there was some pressure to somehow recreate the success of “My Church,” but I quickly came to realize there’s not gonna be a “My Church” 2. Like you can’t try to recreate that moment again. You have to let it be its moment and let it move on and try to outdo it. I’ve shaken off that pressure now that I’ve had a few more years of some life and life lessons and put it into perspective for me. But I think there’s a good motivation and anxiety that comes with making an album. You want to do a great job and be honest and push the envelope a little bit, and I feel like I’ve done all of that.
TOC On Twitter, you’re pretty socially aware —
MM: Woke? (Laughs) I can’t believe I just said “woke.” I try to be socially aware.
TOC: Did that leak into your songwriting for the new album?
MM: A little bit, and kind of unintentionally. I think you just write what’s going on around you, whether that’s love or the lack thereof. I like that people are putting things outside of relationships into the music now. So yeah, there’s a few songs on the record that will kind of address the chaos that is the world at the moment — but in a human way. Not like an American idiot way — no disrespect to Green Day (laughs). I love that people like Jason Isbell and Brothers Osborne, Willie Nelson, they’re not afraid of the backlash when they share their beliefs, and most of the time it’s not even politics.
TOC: Do you feel more pressure on you with this album because of some of these things?
MM: There are definitely songs on this album that I knew were gonna be worked well at radio. I think that’s a balance I’ve always wanted to strike. When I first met with Sony and Columbia Records I said, “I want to do it all.” I want to be critically-acclaimed because I want to make music that is meaningful and I want to have lyrics that say something, but I also don’t want to abandon radio. I want to blend art and commerce and I feel like somehow I’ve been able to do that in a very huge drought of women on the radio. I do want to continue to inspire the new artists around me, the women especially, to be bold. Don’t be trying to sound like the guys!
** FEATURED PHOTO BY: John Russell/CMA