Just me gushing about all the artists in the HMU (Hozier Musical Universe)

Review of Maren Morris’ sophomore record “GIRL”

Maren Morris — GIRL

Released March 8, 2019

This was another album I had been really excited to give a listen, but I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to.

Prior to listening to this record, I knew of Morris mostly through her work with other artists I love. The first song I heard of hers was “The Bones,” which is originally from this album but I heard a later version she put out with a feature from Hozier. Hozier has been my gateway to finding a lot of Country and Americana artists like Allison Russell (if you know me, you know how much I love AR), Brandi Carlile, and Morris. Then I read Marissa R. Moss’ book Her Country which centers around Morris, Kacey Musgraves, and Mickey Guyton as three women who have tackled the misogyny and racism involved in trying to break into mainstream country radio. Through that book, I learned more about not only those three but also Amanda Shires, Brandy Clark, Margo Price, Carly Pearce, and Brittney Spencer amongst many, many others.

The six degrees of separation got even wilder when I discovered in the book that Morris, Carlile, Shires, and Natalie Hemby were in a group called The Highwomen and they performed at Newport Folk Festival in 2019 with another group called Our Native Daughters. I had heard of Our Native Daughters before through Rhiannon Giddens, another Country-adjacent/Americana artist who does such fantastic work on the origins of the banjo as well as the contributions of the Black musical community to Country and Americana music. Somewhere in all of the many things she does, Giddens is in this group with Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah, and Leyla McCalla.

And if you thought all of that interconnected-ness was wild, guess who else performed at Newport in 2019? Hozier. In that game of “If you could go back in time and see any live music performance, what would it be?” I’ve decided mine is that 2019 Newport Folk Festival. Not only were The Highwomen, Our Native Daughters, and Hozier performers, but so were Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples, Maggie Rogers, and Kermit.

So coming to this album with all of that interconnected background knowledge, I was so hoping to love this record. And I do love Morris as an artist, for how she was connected with all of these other artists I love, and for her outspokenness and willingness to stand out on the edge of Nashville’s homogeny. But even from what little I’ve heard of her first record HERO, I’m more impressed with it than I am with this.

That’s not to say I found no enjoyment in listening to this album. My favorite songs are “GIRL” (which I knew from when Morris played with Hozier for CMT Crossroads in September), “The Feels,” “To Hell and Back,” “The Bones,” (although I would take the version with the Hozier feature every time), “Good Woman,” and I went back and forth with it, but I decided I do like “Flavor.”

I also really enjoyed the features on this album. Features can sometimes be hit or miss, particularly if they’re overused, but the two on this album were with artists I already really enjoy and these features in particular also point to Morris’ aligning herself with acts that fall outside Music Row’s favor. I’ve mentioned The Brothers Osborne briefly before when I was listening to Kelsea Ballerini’s SUBJECT TO CHANGE, which featured a song co-written by Josh Osborne. Their song “Nobody’s Nobody” featured heavily in my Summer ’23 playlist and I’ve recently given their last album a preliminary listen. As TJ Osborne is openly queer in the country music industry, I think they’re living proof that quality country-rock can exist without it groveling to problematic country themes.

And where do I even begin with Brandi Carlile? I’ve only been really into her music for a little while, but from what I’ve seen of the work she does, I am so deeply impressed by her. Not just through her own work or her work with the Highwomen, but also through her efforts to support other artists like producing for Brandy Clark (and winning a Grammy for it), and revitalizing the careers of Tanya Tucker and Joni Mitchell (y’all see that performance at this year’s Grammys? Not possible without Brandi Carlile.)

It could be argued that this isn’t much of a country record at all. It’s straddles the line between country and pop, with more R&B influence than country usually gets, without really falling into either genre comfortably. But it’s been true throughout her whole career that Morris’ music doesn’t exist comfortably within the boundaries of mainstream country and has previously leaned a bit into pop so that didn’t bother me as much as I imagine it might have ruffled some feathers when it was first released.

There’s a song on the album called “Flavor” in which Morris is addressing her position as not necessarily one of Music Row’s favorites, but I think it can also be read in relation to the musical style of this album. Instead of doing what every other country singer does, she’s doing things her own way, both in terms of being outspoken, choosing to not just “shut up and sing,” referencing the infamous backlash against The Chicks, but also in terms of her musical choices. She’s building her own sound, even if that means falling outside of mainstream country.

In reading other reviews for this album, I’d have to agree with their general conclusions — that her voice is fantastic, but the songs themselves don’t really stand out much. I have a theory that may sound harsh, but I don’t think you can write good songs while you’re happy. Artists like Ed Sheeran and Justin Timberlake made the best music of their careers when they were really going through it, but once they were happily married and settled, their art took a turn for the meh. I hate to say it because I don’t want to perpetuate the idea that one must suffer for their art, but this was an album she wrote shortly after getting married to fellow Nashville songwriter Ryan Hurd. Although, listening now in 2024, there’s an added layer to this essentially honeymoon album with the knowledge that in 2023, Morris filed for divorce from Hurd. I’m not sure yet how that changes this album, if at all.

Where I disagree with the other reviews, however, is it seems like it was impossible for Morris to win with her second record. Of course every artist wants to avoid the “sophomore slump,” but as Laura Snapes wrote in her review for The Guardian, “Any artist who makes their name subverting norms faces a challenge on album two: you can’t subvert the same norm twice, but step off the soapbox and you’ll be accused of growing toothless.” So it seems like any way Morris went, it wouldn’t have been enough. Between her first album and this one, she featured on a Zedd track “The Middle” which introduced her to a lot of pop listeners. Had this album doubled down on her being a country artist, critics would have said she was ignoring her newfound pop popularity, but had she leaned more into it, it would have been said that she abandoned her country base. But as this is really neither a country nor a pop album, feel however I may about it, I do feel for this album and the fact that there was seemingly no way to avoid disappointing someone.

There were also many comparisons to Kacey Musgraves’ 2018 album Golden Hour, which is widely considered Musgraves’ best. While Golden Hour is a great album and I’m certainly not one to espouse against comparing like-projects or artists, not all albums can be Golden Hour. I personally find comparisons helpful to situate an album or artist in a neighborhood of similar sounding artists, just so readers can get an idea of what they can expect or even where we are in the vast landscape of music that exists, but directly pitting artists and albums against each other feels counterintuitive.

Overall, I think this record is fine. I don’t love it, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard. At worst, it’s just kinda boring, but honestly I think a lot of work falls into this middle, not-bad-but-not-great, “probably wouldn’t think much of it again after this” territory. There’s so much music out there that either side of the extreme, good or bad, is what stands out to people. But listen,

just because I didn’t love this album doesn’t mean I don’t love and admire Morris as an artist, at least as much as you can rationally love and respect a public figure from a distance. In a genre that is so hyperfixated on maintaining its image and status quo, easily more than the rest, I will always celebrate an artist speaking up, using her platform and privilege to push back against “the way it’s always been.”