Maren Morris’ career has certainly evolved since releasing her major label debut, Hero, in 2016. In fact, in 2024 she officially parted ways with country music. Her split from the genre comes at a time when country is more popular than ever, with stars like Post Malone and Beyoncé crossing over into Nashville territory. And Morris revealed in a recent interview that not all of those crossovers strike her as authentic.
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“I think people like cosplaying at it or doing it because it’s trendy,” she told The Zoe Report. “That’s never been me. You can Google my history very easily and find articles from the [Fort Worth] Star-Telegram when I was 10, and you’ll see the same little girl playing the guitar, singing country music. I think I always have to remind myself that that’s the same girl.”
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Maren Morris Has a New Album Out Today
Ironically, the 35-year-old Texan knows a little something about cross-genre appeal. “The Middle,” her 2018 team-up with EDM stars Zedd and Grey, scored a Grammy nod for—among others—Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
“[My career] has just been all over the place,” Maren Morris told TZR. “That’s a freedom that I’ve broken through and fought for since Day One. I’ve always had artistic freedom, but I don’t know if I had the confidence to truly own it until now, unapologetically.”
Never shying away from criticizing the sometimes rigid confines of the country music industry, Morris’ latest album, Dreamsicle—out Friday, May 9—seemingly marks a clear break with Nashville. It’s her first full-length record under Columbia’s main label, rather than its Music City division. Still, the “My Church” songstress insists that she remains firmly planted in her Southern roots.
“Country music is not a classroom that you just leave,” she said. “It’s a family. It’s a sound. It’s a feeling. It’s an emotion. That’s not what I meant when I was going through that transition. It was about: ‘Do I want to put my life’s work in the hands of some of these gatekeepers of mainstream country music?’”
Featured image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella
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