Everything You Need to Know About Maren Morris’ Next Album

A new Maren Morris album is coming soon. Actually, during a Twitter Q&A with fans in August she said it'd be a "couple months," which technically means two months, but ... Obviously that timeframe has passed, so early 2019 seems likely.

The "Rich" and "My Church" singer has been dropping hints like they're burning holes in her pockets, so we put the clues together for this comprehensive examination of a project she's calling #MM2.

Release Date:

TBD 2019

Title:

Sorry, don't know that yet either. It's being referred to as #MM2, which is actually a great name even if it sounds like a secret spy organization.

Influences:

Morris has vowed to remain true to her country roots while still allowing influencers from other genres help shape her sound. There are going to be two very different collaborations on this next studio album. The success of "The Middle" surely won't scare her away from leaning into a more progressive sound, especially when so many fans crossed genre lines to root for her.

The Songs:

Three song titles have leaked thus far: "Gold Love," "Flavor" and "To Hell and Back." "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," she sings during the latter. It's a love song and it's gotta be inspired by husband, Ryan Hurd, right? BTW, he wrote two songs with her for this album.

There's also a song about girls that's a personal fave.

Themes:

Morris stays woke, and that social awareness you see her vocalizing on social media will spill into songs in very humanizing ways, she says. "There’s a few songs on the record that will kind of address the chaos that is the world at the moment," she tells Taste of Country, noting that she admires how artists like Brothers Osborne, Willie Nelson and Jason Isbell do it without getting overtly political.

Morris also recognizes her responsibility as a woman in country music, which is to both support and encourage the next generation without compromising her music in an effort to court radio airplay. She says she has no intention of sounding like the guys on the radio, but stopped short of talking about any themes of empowerment or feminism.

Maren Made This List of the 2000s Best Albums Once, Can She Do It Again?