In the fall of 2023, Maren Morris she watched her life, at least as she knew it, go up in smoke. In September, he publicly announced that he would no longer be involved in the country music industry, which inspired a series of criticisms from some of the genre's most outspoken voices. The following month, she filed for divorce from her husband of five years, Ryan Hurd.
She puts things more succinctly today: “Everything in my life fell apart last year,” she says. Advertising sign as a nervous laugh pierces the disappointing sentence.
When faced with a series of personal crises, Morris turned to the one place she knew she could find answers – songwriting. Calling on a group of new and old collaborators, the singer decided her only option for moving forward was to put in the work. “Even on days when I could barely get out of bed, I went to my session,” she says. “My co-writers would say, 'We can cancel,' and I'd say, 'No, I can't go home. It's very depressing.' I just had to move on.”
Almost a year later, Morris is ready to let fans see how far she's come. Break time, Out now via Columbia Records, the 34-year-old singer's latest EP is an exercise in limitless self-expression. Each of the five songs on the project seeks to answer the question Morris asked herself after the “personal breakdown” that took over her life: “What do I say now?”
As it turns out, Morris still had a lot to say. album opener “Section” breaks down the wall between Morris' public and private lives, contrasting the “pro” she shows her fans with the desperate girl behind closed doors who lets her tears fall where they will. The touching”Because, of courseoffers a vision of unconditional love, in stark contrast to the folk chant of “I hope I never fall in love.” EC sees Morris embrace emotions in all their complexity, without exception.
“[Songwriting] it was an amazing distraction from the garbage fire that was my life last fall. I know that a lot of those songs pulled me through it and that this is some of my most honest work,” he says.
Seeking her most honest point of view, Morris ended up collaborating with several new collaborators on the project, including pop auteurs such as Joel Little, Delacey, Evan Blair and Michael Pollack. Leaning further away from genre-specific constraints, Morris explains this writing Break time it meant finding people outside of her old songwriters.
“I allowed myself to fall in love with people's talent and not go, 'Oh my God, have I worked with them before?' Do we have mutual friends? Who would be a big name?' she says. “I was like, 'Hey, is he the right person for the job?'
This sense of discovery led Morris to recruit prolific indie-pop group MUNA for their help on her single.Push me up.” With lyrics written by Morris and all three members of the trio, as well as production by MUNA's Naomi McPherson, the new single allowed Morris to explore uncharted territory in her music career – a flirtatious dissection of her sexuality. “I want you in my bed, 'cause I don't need no more friends/ The closer you get, I want you to push me,” he sings on the song's brash chorus. “Sitting on the fence feels good between my legs.”
Reflecting on her first song session with MUNA, Morris notes the importance of writing her self-described “bi-panic” into music alongside three pioneers of the modern queer pop space.
“I remember going on a date with this girl and the date was amazing, but I had So Many questions for MUNA the next day. I really felt like a student and I was, like, with the Professors of Gay,” she laughs. “He was obviously so supportive, and that made it the easiest song to write. It just puts a pep in my step and I feel like I could have written it just with them.”
“Push Me Over” comes after the singer received an outpouring of support from fans in June when she publicly came out as bisexual via an Instagram post. However, despite the huge amount of public support she received, Morris admits that her look didn't really feel like the “right” thing that came out.
“I think it was one of those things where I thought, 'Is an Instagram post really necessary?' I didn't feel like, 'Oh, this is going to be a big king bomb,'” he says. “I just think for any kind of artist that has public exposure, it's inclusive to let people know. I also feel like I really don't hide any part of me anymore. This makes me sleep better at night.”
As much fun as “Push Me Over” was writing, Morris notes that not all of the songs on the project came so easily. “This Is How a Woman Leaves,” the album's poignant final song, offers a confession of conscience, as Morris details the painstaking process of letting herself mourn her marriage before walking away from it.
Morris recalls demoing “This is How” over her car speakers “on the way to divorce court.” Now that it's out, she hopes the song provides some comfort to other women struggling to find their way out of a relationship. “I don't know, I think it will be one of them [songs] that really helps people… which is so weird to say as the creator of it,” he says. “I was putting this song out just to get through the day, and now it's going to be in other people's cars and houses. So I hope it helps, really.”
The singer adds that she is very excited to hear how fans interact with her new songs live. She says fans have already joined the catharsis of screaming “honestly, f–k” with her when they perform “Cut.” Now, she's curious to see which parts of her other tracks fans will latch on to. “Sometimes I can fast-forward my life in the live show and say, 'This is the line that's going to resonate with the fans,'” he says. “But other times, they'll pick something from a song that I had no idea would be popular, and that's what pops up. You really never know until you're there with them.”
Calling from Idaho, where she wrapped up her last show on RSVP Redux tour, Morris reports that the live show is going “really, really well” and is even bringing in a much younger audience than she expected. “I don't know if it's the music itself or just how people find my music on TikTok, but I just noticed a lot of young people in the crowd,” he says.
Perhaps younger audiences are coming because of Morris' highly democratic process for choosing her setlist — on this tour in particular, Morris and her band create a different setlist each night based on fan requests sent through Morris' website . This meant learning “over 45 songs” in rehearsals for the tour and allowing themselves to be flexible in timing for their concerts. But Morris says it's been a win-win situation — fans feel invested in the show and the singer gets a chance to revisit songs she wouldn't otherwise consider performing live.
“Last night, for example, we played 'Make Out With Me' — which is just an interlude from Girl — because it was a request,” he says. “As we were singing it, I realized I had forgotten how raunchy this song is! I was completely transported back to the person I was when I wrote it. So, it's nice when people remember the songs that weren't singles or huge smashes — it was just a deep track that they really remembered and loved.”
With the evolution of her sound, her live show, and even herself, Morris calls appropriately Break time an “act break” in her life. an indicator of what has gone before and what remains to be seen. And for her future, Morris has big goals – after spending all of her time writing about herself lately, Morris says she wants to write like anyone else.
“I started writing for a Broadway musical last year and it was nice to have a prompt to write. It doesn't all have to be through my personal experience, so I felt like I came close to being an actor,” she said of the process. Like, “Okay, let me step into their shoes and put myself in their shoes, and then write what I think they would say.” I really hope I can do more than that.”
But as we chat, Morris explains that she's almost ready to be done waiting Break time to go out. After much speculation, fans will finally be able to hear how she really feels about everything going on around her. “Normally, I would be afraid to put music that real,” he says. “But since I don't like protecting someone else's agenda or feelings anymore, I can just release my point of view. And that's quite refreshing.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/maren-morris-intermission-ep-coming-out-muna-1235743803/
