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This is an important launch for the 28-year-old country-pop star.
But from there, Morris pretty much beelined to the center of her scene.
Shes masterful at walking that sort of line.
It was more eye-opening to me in the fact that I was touring places like New Zealand and Argentina.
We went all over South America on that Niall tour.
I dont wanna just be a touring artist in the same few countries.
I actually would love to have my music in every corner of the world.
How do you plan to change that if you want to continue touring down here?
You cant really have a prepped answer for that.
And even the most mundane can be beautiful.
Its just, you have to care about them enough to show it to them.
There are people singing I Could Use a Love Song back to me in Brazil.
So all of last year made me think,I need to set my sights higher.
I thought they were high to begin with, but now the ceiling keeps raising.
Your new songGirlsounds like it came from an artist aware of the eyes and ears on her.
Its okay to not like yourself today, but tomorrow will be different.
Thats what I needed to hear.
And I had this gut feeling about it that maybe others would need to hear it, too.
Its more than just talking about it, too, Ive realized.
And there are other artists that have done it before me.
Its not like were throwing them a bone.
Its that they absolutely deserve to be there and we need to keep the continuation of opportunities for them.
And I employ a lot of women on my tour.
Its not even because theyre women.
Its because theyre really fucking good at what they do.
… Its funny, because we have such short memories.
And she was accused of the same thing in the late 70s.
That was the headline everywhere: Dolly Goes Pop.
And so, thats what Im doing.
I will have to explain.
Maybe at some point I wont have to.
But honestly, Im just like, This is music.
Its supposed to be fun.
Can you just listen to the record and decide for yourself if it makes you feel something?
Or if you dont get into it thats fine.
But I definitely think that its artistic expression.
I like being educated.
I actually have been thinking about going back to school and doing some online.
What would you study?The one semester I went to college, I loved my political science professor.
Id love to do poli-sci and literature or philosophy, just something like that, things that interest me.
… All my friends went to school, and I moved to Nashville to pursue this.
So I kind of have this envy of the mark of really learning something.
I know now that Im not unintelligent.
Itd be cool to have a degree to show for it.
And I was just 25, 26 when all of that was happening.
So I think I just [equated] letting your guard down as kind of giving up your power.
I feel a lot older, though.
Ive just been doing this for so long.
In show business years youre, like, 60.Right, yeah.
I mean, maybe that works for some people, but its extremely back and forth withRyanand me.
Its a really mood-ring pop in of career to sign up for.
The shift in tone isnt just related to subject matter youre actually singing differently.
You first won people over with acasual, eye-rolling deliverythat felt perfectly aligned with the moment.
I dont think volume is a mark of great vocal talent.
I actually love softness, especially in female voices.
So there was a lot of that on this album.
But its not like youre going for unvarnished intimacy all of the time.
Its really hard to sing that alto every night live.
I definitely wanted to play around with that more on this record.
I wanted it to be more about what my heart is doing currently.
You sing Flavor from a breezily rebellious posture.
What are you tapping into there?
I think maybe that has something to do with it.
Then kinda getting a little more comfortable with my fan base and social media to talk about things.
… Ive also learned that you dont have to speak up on everything.
Its okay to sometimes keep opinions to yourself.
It ends up blowing back in your face when you decide to be vocal about every single thing.
Thats such a horrible, toxic ceiling to put on artists.
