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.”…