It’s been just over two years since Maren Morris indicated that she would be stepping away from country music, and she further opened up about that decision in a new TikTok video this month. Responding to a comment that “people still show up” for the singer, Morris reflected on the “choices” she has made over the years as a woman in music, “especially in country music,” calling them “very calculated.”
Morris’ debut studio album, Hero, was released in June 2016, and she reflected on the fact that “my entire success of my first record was under this first year of Trump’s reign” after Donald Trump was elected president in Noveember 2016. Because “the last 10 years of my career have been under this Trump presidency, Biden, then Trump again,” Morris said that “it’s been quite interesting to see the country music space become very politicized.”
In May 2025, Morris released her album Dreamsicle, which was her first project since stepping away from the country music industry. She told fans that she’s now “sort of in my own weird music space,” which she called “really heartbreaking” because of her love for her “Texas roots,” country music and the city of Nashville.
“I live there. I’ve not lived anywhere else in the last 13 years, but it’s been very hot,” she revealed of how she currently feels in Music City and country music awards shows. “No one is very friendly. Some people are cool, but it’s been very dicey at these award shows and s—. And I don’t really go to them anymore, but it’s been very heated. But you cannot be a full songwriter and reflect reality and life through song without being political.”
The 35-year-old explained that while she tried to be “kind” and “benevolent, “there are people and energies in the sphere of my work the last few years that have really put me off.” Sharing that she has “no choice” but to “still love country music” because she “grew up in it” and “it’s in your bones,” Morris reflected on how “lucky” she feels to “get to have a fan base and be honest.”
“I’ve lost a lot of fans over the years because of my viewpoints,” she said. “And I think that’s fair. If you don’t agree with me, and you can’t enjoy my music because of my viewpoints, you are absolutely allowed to do that.”
The singer, who shares son Hayes with ex-husband Ryan Hurd, continued, “I do feel like I’ve sacrificed a lot of my mental health, my financial standing, my family, just because I’m so deeply concerned and uncomfortable with the weird status quo of country music. But as it stands right now, I’m making music because I will always do that.”
Morris further expressed her gratitude to her fans for supporting her before explaining that she is an “observant songwriter” and that while she loves her country,” “it is so f—ing broken, and I wish I could snap my fingers and make it better.”
“I just write about what I see and what I feel. And sometimes you break trends with even the machine that made you successful and that’s okay, and it’s weird as f—,” she concluded. “A lot of people in my life don’t understand it, and they don’t understand what I’ve done, but I understand it.”
