Everything We Know About Maren Morris’ Sophomore Album, ‘Girl’
Maren Morris is just about ready to release her much-anticipated sophomore album. After her acclaimed 2016 debut, Hero, she's aiming high to beat her own achievements.
Morris says the process of capturing her life experience in songwriting truthfully has been her mission in creating her second album: "A banjo or fiddle doesn't make a country song, it's the core-cutting truth that does," Morris says in a piece she wrote for Lenny, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's email newsletter, "and I intend to explore it one day or beer at a time."
Mission accomplished, we'd say. In mid-November, Morris shared in a tweet that her sophomore record contains "all the ugly, all the things that shouldn’t be said and SHOULD be said."
"We’ve been through it all," she writes, sharing a photo of herself and her manager listening to the project. "Y’all ain’t ready."
Morris clued fans in to the fact she was in the studio working on a new project back in April, and she's teased a few new songs in her live performances in recent months. In late November, she even invited a few lucky fans in London, England, to hear the record in its entirety.
Read on to learn everything we know so far about Morris' sophomore album.
The Title
Girl is the title of Morris' sophomore album, she revealed on Feb. 7. Morris had been referring to her new album as "MM2" in her social media posts for several months.
The Release Date
Girl is due out on March 8. It is available for pre-order now.
The Record Label
Morris is signed to Columbia Nashville, with which she released her debut album, Hero, in 2016.
The Album Cover
Morris shared the album cover for her Girl record on Feb. 7. It features a photo of the artist, in a pastel pink and yellow outfit, laying on leaves and flowers.
The Producers
In addition to co-writing all of the songs on her first album, Hero, Morris co-produced the project with busbee. The two are back together for Girl, co-producing all but three of the album's tracks; those other three songs (Tracks 1, 5 and 12) were produced by Greg Kurstin.
The Single
On Feb. 17, Morris shared her sophomore album's first single, "Girl." Morris co-wrote the song alongside Sarah Aarons -- who also co-penned "The Middle," the country star's 2018 crossover smash collaboration with producer Zedd and electronic duo Grey -- as well as Greg Kurstin. Kurstin also has credit for producing the new song, which Morris says was inspired by a letter she was trying to write to a friend when their relationship was on the rocks.
Morris co-wrote "Girl" alongside Sarah Aarons -- who also co-penned "The Middle," the country star's 2018 crossover smash collaboration with producer Zedd and electronic duo Grey -- as well as Greg Kurstin. Kurstin also has credit for producing the new song, which Morris says was inspired by a letter she was trying to write to a friend when their relationship was on the rocks.
Morris released her "Girl" music video on Jan. 24.
The Songs
Morris has teased a handful of new songs at her live shows in recent months, including the boot-stomping "Flavor," and an emotional ballad, "To Hell & Back." The latter's lyrics include, "You didn't save me / You didn't think I needed saving / You didn't change me / You didn't think I needed changing / My wings are frayed and what's left of my halo's black / Lucky for me, your kind of heaven has been to hell and back."
Morris told her fans on Twitter that a new song called "Gold Love" was one of the trickiest for her to write. She also promised a song "about girls" that she says is her favorite song she's ever written and two collaborations.
On Feb. 8, Morris dropped "Common," a collaboration with Brandi Carlile. The two first shared the song during Morris' set at Carlile's Girls Just Wanna Weekend festival.
"We got way too much in common / So what's the point in fighting? / We got way too many problems / If I'm being honest ..." goes the chorus of "Common." "Oh, we've got way too much in common / Maybe we forgot it / With everybody talkin' / Ain't nobody listenin' ..."
The other collaboration is a song called "All My Favorite People," and it features Brothers Osborne.
Morris shared the complete track listing for the 14-track Girl on Feb. 20. She co-wrote all 14 songs.
Maren Morris, Girl Track Listing:
1. "Girl" (Maren Morris/Sarah Aarons/Greg Kurstin)
2. "The Feels" (Maren Morris/Jimmy Robbins/Laura Veltz)
3. "All My Favorite People" (feat. Brothers Osborne) (Maren Morris/Ryan Hurd/Mikey Reaves)
4. "A Song for Everything" (Maren Morris/Jimmy Robbins/Laura Veltz)
5. "Common" (feat. Brandi Carlile) (Maren Morris/Sarah Aarons/Greg Kurstin)
6. "Flavor" (Maren Morris/Jimmy Robbins/Laura Veltz)
7. "Make Out With Me" (Maren Morris/Julian Bunetta/John Ryan)
8. "Gold Love" (Maren Morris/busbee)
9. "Great Ones" (Maren Morris/Ryan Hurd/Mikey Reaves)
10. "RSVP" (Maren Morris/Natalie Hemby/Jon Randall/Mark Trussell)
11. "To Hell & Back" (Maren Morris/Jessie Jo Dillon/Laura Veltz)
12. "The Bones" (Maren Morris/Jimmy Robbins/Laura Veltz)
13. "Good Woman" (Maren Morris/Kathleen Edwards/Ian Fitchuk)
14. "Shade" (Maren Morris/Natalie Hemby/Tyler Johnson)
The Tour
In March, Morris will launch Girl: The World Tour. Set to begin on March 9 in Chicago, Ill., Girl: The World Tour will take Morris across the United States, Canada and overseas, to Europe, Australia and New Zealand, for more than 40 shows. Cassadee Pope and RaeLynn will join her as opening acts.
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