Global superstars, Zedd and Maren Morris, have reunited on another undeniable chart-topping single – “Make You Say”, out today. The timeless and highly infectious track, which also includes multitalented electronic duo, BEAUZ, follows the pair’s 2018 collaboration on breakout hit “The Middle.” On “Make You Say”, Zedd and Maren have once again cracked the code for the perfect cross-genre smash designed for mass appeal. Co-written by Zedd, Maren Morris, BEAUZ, Charlie Puth, and Jacob Kasher Hindlin (One Direction, Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Maroon 5), in combination with Zedd’s seamless signature production and Maren’s powerhouse vocals, “Make You Say” will undoubtedly be another iconic anthem – showcasing the best of what all three artists can bring to the table.

Zedd says, “I started working on this record with BEAUZ about 3 or 4 years ago. We went back and forth slowly, refining the production over the years, and then Charlie and I got in the studio and wrote the topline for the track. Maren recorded a demo of it and sounded phenomenal, so I met her in Nashville, and we recorded the final vocal to ‘Make You Say’ and she took the song to a whole new level. ‘Make You Say’ is the kickoff of a new chapter for me and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.”

Maren Morris says, “I loved working with Zedd again on ‘Make You Say’ after such a thrill ride with ‘The Middle.’ It’s such a vibey melody and making the music video was definitely a first for me as far as choreography and animation go. The fans are gonna flip.”

BEAUZ says, “Thank you Zedd, Maren, and Charlie for giving us the chance to work on such an epic project. All the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it in the end.”

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When the pandemic hit in 2020, artists were forced to grapple with their own identity in a time when the show was not allowed to go on. One of those was Maren Morris, who in the bio for her third studio album Humble Quest, questions, ‘”What do you write about when the show can’t go on?” I think every songwriter in the world had a few months of that question at the beginning of the pandemic. “Honestly, what is the fucking point?”‘ It’s a question that Morris appears to question in the leading track from the album, ‘Circles Around This Town,’ with the cutting line dismissing her past success, ‘Couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked / Was the one about a car and the one about a church.’ On Humble Quest there are no cars and churches in sight. Her third record instead reveals more of Morris’ heart – her flaws, her fears and her loves. It is her most honest and poignant storytelling to date, analysing her own flaws and mistakes in a way that she has not yet attempted . Having lost her producer Busbee, Morris turned to frequent collaborator Greg Kurstin (Adele, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters) – who she worked with on The Bones – to produce the record and co-wrote the record with her husband Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Jimmy Robbins, Natalie Hemby, Laura Veltz and Jon Green on Busbee’s piano.The resulting record is one that feels deeply intimate, allowing Morris to embrace the imperfections in her life through snapshots of her rises and falls, overshares, lullabies, wine-soaked conversations with one old friend and a final goodbye to another one [Busbee]. Sonically, Morris indulges into her the groove and soulful element of her music that has always existed at the edges but now moves to centre stage, helmed by Kurstin.

So on leadout track, ‘Circles Around This Town,’ Morris acknowledges the journey she has undergone to get to her current stardom. It’s a slow lingering groove, indulging in the thicker grungier, rock side of Morris’ music on the driving guitar, telling the story of her journey in Nashville from ‘a couple bad demos’ to ‘the ones that finally worked.’ Morris returns to the uncertainty of this journey on ‘Detour,’  where she acknowledges the fear that comes with that fragility, ‘Not supposed to cry when all the skies are blue / But I was disappointed when I saw the view / So I threw my map away and that’s the way / I stumbled in to you.’ It’s an acknowledgement of the fractured and frustrating fear of that journey when the destination is uncertain and is some of her most vulnerable songwriting, accompanied by a muted and swirling traditional country production. Elsewhere that journey or her ‘Humble Quest’ that is the mainstay thread of the record is returned to on the title track. Here, Morris struggles to understand the meaning of ‘humility’ in a world that puts unrealistic demands on artists, especially women, to keep them small. The track showcases the pain and confusion Morris experienced on speaking out against the hatred shown to Mickey Guyton from fans. ‘Been biting my tongue behind a smile / Fallen on swords that I can’t see / Poisoned my well on the daily / Got easier not to ask / Just kept hitting my head on the glass / I was so nice til I woke up / I was polite til I spoke up / I’m on a humble quest, and damn I do my best / Not gonna hold my breath because I still haven’t found it yet.’  Lyrically, the track is the most powerful moment on the record and the most vulnerable acknowledgement of her own flaws and mistakes.

Another main thread of the record hinges around her mature and deep love for her husband, Ryan Hurd, with whom she co-wrote a large part of the record. The theme is first brought in on second track – ‘The Furthest Thing’ – an entrancing, piano-led love song undercut with a grooving guitar part. ‘You’re the furthest thing, but damned if we still fit so perfectly.’ Morris’ husband Ryan Hurd joins her for the ballad, bringing back the harmonies that were showcased on ‘Chasing After You.’ It’s a mesmerising track about love even over distance, while Morris and Hurd are both on the road. So too, ‘I Can’t Love You Anymore’ infuses a lighter, fun-loving element to that love, in which Kurstin brings in a vintage country sound. Accompanied once more by Hurd, the duo exchange harmonies about the real meaning of love. ‘You bring me coffee every morning / You’re fun even when you’re boring / And you like me even when I’m being a b**ch.’ Accompanied by a jaunty piano part and thick harmonies, the track is infused with a far more traditional country sound. So too, pre-released track ‘Background Music‘ is another beautiful love song. Here, Morris celebrates the beauty of the temporary, addressing mortality in a profoundly uplifting and beautiful manner. Co-written by Morris alongside frequent collaborators Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, it is an authentic track about the true meaning of love and life. ‘We got time but we’re only human / We call it forever but we know that there’s an end to it / You and I can dance our way through it / And I’ll love you ’til all that we are is background music.’ Vocally, it is one of the most wondrous moments for Morris on Humble Quest, accompanied by a delightful, swirling production.

Elsewhere, Morris brings in a cheekier element to that love, on ‘Nervous’ and ‘Tall Guys.’ The former offers a bolder, grungier and rockier production to kick off the second half of the record. ‘Leaving my inhibitions exposed, you make me nervous.’ This moodier production feels somewhat incongruous in the landscape of the record, but it is a powerful kick-off if the record is divided into Side A and Side B. On the latter, ‘Tall Guys’ continues the heftier, rock feel as she sings a love letter to her husband Ryan Hurd. ‘they keep me looking up, when I’m feeling down / I can always find ’em in the middle of crowd / When I can’t see over, he puts me on his shoulders / I can wear my heels real high / I’m a lover of all types, but there’s somethin’ ’bout tall guys.’ The feel of this track is brought in again in the thrumming and grooving track that acknowledges another kind of love – friendship, in which Morris places immense value on those relationships. ‘Sometimes you take me for granted / Sometimes I can be backhanded / But you got my back while I’m holding your hand / What else do we need?’

The words she chooses to acknowledge her love for Hurd have taken a deeper, more mature turn on Humble Quest, possibly owing to her new role as a mother. So, the Appalachian folky ballad ‘Hummingbird’ opens with whispers of her son’s voice, ‘mamma.’ The track is delightfully whimsical and dream-like as Morris sings ‘I’ve been waiting all my life, for your colours / And I’ve been watering my flowers while you’re gone / I’ve been looking out the window for a glimmer /  Not knowing you’ve been with me all along’ It’s a beautifully moving, quiet lullaby-like track about a mother’s love for her son. ‘I’ll hold you in my loving arms / But I’ll let you fly free.’ The poignancy of this track is hammered home by the final track ‘What Would This World Do?’ This last is the most immensely moving moment of Humble Quest, particularly positioned after ‘Good Friends,’ as a poignant reminder of Morris’ loss in her producer Busbee, especially the lyric, ‘I’ll keep all your Polaroids hanging on display / And I’ll drink all the wine you gave me on my wedding day / Don’t know what I would do if your tomorrow never came / The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll never be the same.’ It’s an emotional and powerful tribute, on which Morris, with the help of Hurd and Jon Green, selects her words carefully to acknowledge that friendship and loss.

Humble Quest offers a far more muted note than her sophomore album GIRL, yet showcases the poignancy and care with which Morris selects her lyrics and crafts her artistry. It’s a record filled with love and intimacy, that will please fans as much for its ability to introduce Morris further as a person, than for the richness of the songs themselves. Humble Quest is a record for lovers of pure songwriting prowess at its finest, while not rammed with as many anthemic tracks as her previous works, it is some of her best and most powerful work to date.

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Maren Morris has today released her new track ‘Background Music’ taken from her forthcoming album Humble Quest, set to be released 25^th March on Sony Music Nashville’s Columbia Nashville imprint.

Of the track Maren shares, “I wrote ‘Background Music’ about the beauty of the temporary, which is inevitably all things. The romanticism of eternity sounds nice, but I like to think I savor things better when I know I’m not entitled to it in perpetuity. It’s a love song that addresses mortality but it’s also promising someone that even when we aren’t cool anymore, I want to grow old with them and laugh about the times we thought we were.”

‘Background Music’ is a stunning track, co-written by Morris alongside frequent collaborators Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz and is an authentic track about the true meaning of love and life. Morris accompanied the release with a stunning, vintage-feel music video that is beautifully simple. The track adds to the success of ‘Circles Around This Town’ building the excitement around the release of her forthcoming album Humble Quest – Morris’ third studio album to be released on 25th March.

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Grammy-winning superstar Maren Morris’ new album, Humble Quest, is slated for release on 25th March via Sony Nashville. The album features the lead single, “Circles Around This Town,” released last week.

Maren began writing the songs on Humble Quest in the beginning of the pandemic as a series of major life changes unfolded—new motherhood, an upended career, the death of beloved friend and collaborator Michael Busbee and more, further compounded by lockdown. She felt control over life quickly slipping until she had a freeing realization—she was never in control in the first place. It’s from this place of personal truth and clarity amid darkness that Maren’s most genuine songs yet began to flow, creating an important distraction from the times rather than a snapshot of them.

Maren found herself reckoning with humility in ways she’d never imagined as she thought about how the goal of appearing humble puts artists, especially women, in a box with unrealistic demands to keep them small. Humble Quest documents Maren’s journey to redefining humility on her own terms as a grounded state of understanding one’s own truth rather than the capacity to appear authentic to others.

Produced by frequent collaborator Greg Kurstin (Adele, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters) and written alongside her husband Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Jimmy Robbins, Natalie Hemby, Laura Veltz and Jon Green on Busbee’s piano, Humble Questfinds Maren on a journey to embrace the imperfections in her life through snapshots of her rises and falls, overshares, lullabies, wine-soaked conversations with one old friend and a final goodbye to another one. “Am I humble enough now?”Maren asks herself sometimes. “Maybe. Or maybe I still haven’t found it yet. Or maybe, who cares as long as your friends and, most importantly, you know what your heart is all about? But here’s to taking the quest to find out.”

MAREN MORRIS – HUMBLE QUEST

Circles Around This Town

The Furthest Thing

I Can’t Love You Anymore

Humble Quest

Background Music

Nervous

Tall Guys

Detour

Hummingbird

Good Friends

What Would This World Do

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The post INTERVIEW: Maren Morris on New Single ‘Circles Around this Town’ appeared first on off the record.

Today, Maren Morris has kicked off a new era in her music with the release of her brand new track ‘Circles Around This Town,’ written by Maren and frequent collaborators Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels and Jimmy Robbins and produced by Greg Kurstin. Alongside the release of the atmospheric song that harkens back to her earlier ‘Hero’ days, Morris has released a music video, directed by Harper Smith. Of the video, Maren says, “I could see the visuals for ‘Circles Around This Town’ the moment I wrote the song. I’ve always been so inspired by the industrial, blown out colors of music videos from the 90s, so Harper Smith and I wanted the aesthetics of this video to reflect that grainy, devil-may-care attitude of all my females heroes from that era: Sheryl, Fiona, Alanis. Obviously, having a penchant for the nostalgic, we decided to recreate my teenage bedroom and pin old photos of me as a kid on the walls and have me typing on an old PC computer. I knew I didn’t want to take anything too seriously in this video, so all our amplified ‘signs of the universe’ are purposefully campy, but they also ask the viewer, ‘Is the universe actually showing you signs or do you just know when you need to make a real change?’ ‘Circles Around This Town’ is my story, so I felt like I truly got to relive my journey from Texas to Nashville again.”

The song is a phenomenal track, kicking off a new era for Morris in 2022 and ramping up fans excitement for more music, with nostalgic-hued, guitar heavy production that fits seamlessly with the tone of the song.

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10. I Could Use a Love Song

‘I Could Use a Love Song’ earned Morris her first No. 1 – its a beautiful and cynical address of love.

9. Common (feat. Brandi Carlile)

On ‘Common,’ Morris teamed up with the legendary Brandi Carlile, released around the time of the 2016 election, addressing the commonalities in humanity, despite political and social differences. It’s a vital message delivered by two of the most phenomenal female vocals in modern music.

8. Drunk Girls Don’t Cry

This is definitely one of Morris most fun and witty tracks, comparing a man who claims he will be ready for a relationship to believing that drunk girls don’t cry – we’ll have this on repeat forever.

7. Once

Not a single, but a track that shone a light on the intense power of Morris’ vocal. It’s a powerful track addressing heartbreak that delivers a gut punch on every line.

6. 80s Mercedes

On ’80s Mercedes,’ Morris proved that she was more than a one-hit wonder, as a follow-up to ‘My Church.’ It’s a belt-along track that is immense fun.

5. All My Favourite People (feat. Brothers Osborne)

‘All My Favourite People’ was a gorgeously inclusive, fun track about inclusivity and feels like an immense celebration of friendship and the joy in life. The track features the searing guitar solos of John Osborne and the unique vocals of TJ, bringing the track to life.

4. Better Than We Found It

Morris has never been an artist to shy away from the important issues of the day and this beautiful track, released in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, was a plea to America and the world regarding the injustice of racism and police brutality. It’s sharp-eyed and poignant.

3. GIRL

GIRL the leadout single for a new era in Morris’ music, following the phenomenal success of HERO, is a bold, brave and empowering track about feminism, with an amped up production, stellar vocals and a tangible confidence.

2. To Hell & Back

‘To Hell & Back’ is a gloriously tender love song, in which Morris sings about a lover who appreciates her for the woman she is. ‘You didn’t save me / You didn’t think I needed saving / You didn’t change me / You didn’t think I needed changing.’ It’s a beautiful, simple song that is as beautiful and empowering a love song as we have heard.

1. My Church

On ‘My Church,’ Morris sings about her spiritual home – music – as she sings about being inspired by the artists that she hears on the radio. It’s a glorious gospel-infused track that elevated Morris’ career to become a country radio staple.

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