Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Maren Morris, Sony Music 2019.
Maren Morris hails from Nashville and she hit the Australian charts in a big way with her single The Middle which was the second most played track on Australian commercial radio in 2018.
Morris also earned five Grammy nominations including record of the year and pop duo/group performance for The Middle so her follow up album has been eagerly awaited.
Since her debut in 2016 she’s established a reputation for her vocal stylings that incorporate pop, country and soul influences.
Like a lot of young artists coming out of Nashville, Maren is aiming squarely at the country/pop cross-over market and while her album sits comfortably in both camps it is much more pop than country in orientation.
The opening track is the title track to the album and the first single.
Released on International Women’s Day it has already achieved considerable airplay.
It’s a powerful female anthem and I expect it will chart well.
The track was written by Morris and Sarah Aarons along with Grammy Award winner songwriter and producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia).
It’s a strong start to the album with its interesting sparse opening guitar motif.
Maren Morris writes a good song and she possesses a strong and expressive voice.
The album contains a variety of musical styles and changing tempos that kept me interested and engaged.
There are many potential singles on the disc including Common featuring Brandi Carlile and All My Favourite People with Brothers Osborne.
The female country/pop cross-over market is very crowded so it will be interesting to see if the album will make a big enough splash to achieve the desired response.
I suspect it will be popular with the young female audience.
