Maren Morris Reveals She Is Leaving Country Music, Feels 'Very Distanced From It'

Maren Morris has announced her plan to leave country music behind to start afresh. 

The singer expressed this in her new EP, "The Bridge," which she released on Friday. Morris feels "very distanced" from the genre and believes that "a lot" is currently happening in the space.

Morris criticized country music for having a handful of homophobic artists. She questions whether the songs she writes would fit well in the genre. 

Keep on reading to learn more.

Maren Morris revealed her plans to leave country music after releasing three studio albums, "Hero," "Girl," and "Humble Quest" between 2016 and 2022. According to the Los Angeles Times, she disclosed her plan in the lyrics of her new songs from the "Bridge" EP released on Friday. In her words, the singer would like to "burn it to the ground and start" her music career over.

However, Morris already believes that the genre is burning to the ground by itself. She called out discrimination and homophobia in the genre since her early days in the music industry. 

Nonetheless, she's currently overwhelmed by how much negativity is in the industry and has tried to avoid it.

Morris even admitted to benefiting from the unfair and "dominant system" during her career as a country artist. The "I Could Use A Love Song" singer is fed up with everything and has chosen to stay "very distanced from it." The artist released her EP songs "The Tree" and "Get The Hell Out Of Here" under Columbia Records as opposed to the usual Columbia Nashville.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Morris spoke more about her plans for her music career. She recalled waking up from the "white privilege" she was experiencing to criticize the "misogyny," "racism," and "homophobia" within the genre. Morris explained her reaction to country music, "if you truly love this type of music and you start to see problems arise, it needs to be criticized."

The singer called on the public to scrutinize the genre as a whole and see for themselves what she was talking about. Morris said, "Anything this popular should be scrutinized," adding, "But I've kind of said everything I can say." 

The star, known for supporting minority groups like the LGBTQ community, called out specific country music artists who had made transphobic and racist comments in their music in the past.

For example, she wondered about the conservative meaning behind the popular Jason Aldean hit single, "Try That In A Small Town." Morris noted, "I've always been an asker of questions and a status quo challenger just by being a woman. So it wasn't even a choice. The further you get into the country music business, you start to see the cracks. And once you see it, you can't unsee it."

Morris discussed using symbolism in her music to speak out for the oppressed. She identified herself as an ally for the LGBTQ community and explained that music was meant to speak out for people who didn't have voices.

An example of her activism is seen in her music video for "The Tree," which criticizes Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town" message. The footage shows Morris leaving a town and walking past some road signs with "Go Woke Go Broke" and "Don't Tread On Me" written on them.

The star also noted that some homophobic and racist songs were made purposefully to give a voice to oppressors instead of the oppressed. However, she was disappointed at this. Morris said, "That's not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed, the actual oppressed. And now it's used as this toxic weapon in culture wars."

Morris is yet to reveal the new direction for her songs moving forward. While she plans to leave country music behind, the "The Middle" singer is still exploring different sounds and writing new songs for her upcoming album.

Morris noted that she was in a perfect place and that writing songs was more fun than it used to be. 

"I feel like my old self back in this space of writing songs I love with people I love," she said. The mother of one reminisced on her childhood and upbringing in Nashville.

She explained that she was so used to writing country songs and doing things in a particular way. 

"The last few records, that's always been in the back of my mind: Will this work in the country music universe?" Morris asked. However, she plans to focus on making good music and songs she likes.