Maren Morris Quits Country Music, Which Is More Popular Than Ever
Try to contain your sadness, everyone: Maren Morris is leaving country music.
The woke songstress has finally had enough of the oh-so-evil conservatives having a monopoly over the genre.
"The stories going on within country music right now, I've tried to avoid a lot of it at all costs. I feel very, very distanced from it," Morris told the Los Angeles Times.
"I had to take a step back. The way I grew up was so wrapped in country music, and the way I write songs is very lyrically structured in the Nashville way of doing things. But I think I needed to purposely focus on just making good music and not so much on how we'll market it."
Interesting statement from Maren, given most of her lyrics are nothing like the country music she listened to growing up. Unless I missed the one where George Strait sings about "he and Diddy drippin' diamonds like Marilyn."
In reality, Morris has been a pop singer all along.
(Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)
Of course, she pointed to Jason Aldean's hit song, "Try That in a Small Town" as an example of what's wrong with the genre. Aldean's song — released earlier this year — took a stand against rampant crime, rioting and looting in big cities and celebrated the close-knit communities in America's small towns.
But critics (including Morris) claimed the tune featured racial undertones and promoted gun violence, a claim Aldean vehemently denied.
"I think it's a last bastion. People are streaming these songs out of spite," Morris said. "It's not out of true joy or love of the music. It's to own the libs. And that's so not what music is intended for.
"Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it's being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars."
So Maren has decided what music should be, who should sing it and what they should sing about. And if you disagree with her in any way, you're "toxic."
Maren Morris has a history of self-righteous behavior.
Morris' decision to leave country music should surprise exactly no one. Morris has long considered herself the moral arbiter of the industry, and she's never been shy to tell us why her opinion is far superior to anyone else's.
"A lot of the drama within the community, I've chosen to step outside out of it," she told the LA Times.
Except Maren is usually the one creating the drama.
In August 2022, the singer called Brittany Aldean — wife of Jason Aldean — an "insurrectionist Barbie" and told her to "not be a scumbag human."
These comments came in response to Aldean's stance against "gender affirming" surgery for children. As a result, Morris threatened not to attend the CMA Awards because she didn't feel "comfortable" being in a venue with people who might not want to pump their kids full of hormones or chop off their genitals.
She did end up going, by the way, but she skipped the red carpet. Instead, she staged her own pre-show photoshoot to honor herself. And I'm not kidding.
(Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for GLAAD)
In January, she appeared as a guest on RuPaul's Drag Race, where she tearfully apologized to contestants for the way the country music industry has supposedly mistreated the LGBTQ community.
"Coming from country music and its relationship with LGBTQ+ members, I just want to say I'm sorry," she said. "And I love you guys for making me feel like a brave voice in country music. So I just thank you guys so much for inspiring me."
She later used her toddler as a prop for her moral grandstanding — introducing him to a group of drag queens to protest Tennessee's proposed ban against sexual performances in front of children.
"I introduced my son to some drag queens today, so Tennessee, f–king arrest me," she said.
Country Music Is Booming
And it's not going to miss Maren Morris.
"I thought I'd like to burn it to the ground and start over," Morris said of country music. "But it's burning itself down without my help."
Is it, though? Because last I checked, country music is more popular than ever.
Just last month, Billboard reported country music consumption is up 20.3% year-over-year in the first half of 2023. And this summer — for the first time ever — three country songs secured the top three spots on the Hot 100. It stayed that way for multiple weeks.
But Maren never lets facts get in the way of a good tantrum.
The 33-year-old conveniently timed her grand exit from country music to coincide with the release of her new, two-song EP called The Bridge. In one of the songs, "The Tree," Morris sings, "I'm done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom."
"I wrote this on the 10-year anniversary of my moving to Nashville. It's about a toxic 'family tree' burning itself to the ground," she wrote in an Instagram post.
"By the end of the song, I give myself permission to face the sun, plant new seeds where it's safer to grow and realize that sometimes there IS greener grass elsewhere."
(Photo by Jeff Hahne/Getty Images)
In other words, she's retreating to a safe place where everyone shares her beliefs and no one ever questions her.
It's the equivalent of a child throwing a fit when she doesn't get her way, a sore loser leaving the game early or Eric Cartman telling his buddies in South Park, "Screw you guys, I'm going home."
Of course, the left will embrace her as some sort of martyr. But nothing Maren Morris is doing is brave or heroic. So let's call this stunt what it is: She's acting like a spoiled brat, and she's far more intolerant than anyone in the industry she so vocally rails against.
Good luck in pop, Maren. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Follow Amber Harding on X: @TheAmberHarding