Maren Morris talks being on 'the right side of history' for her son
"I think having a baby has sharpened my vision on what I cannot stand anymore."
Maren Morris revealed the deeply personal reason she is working to make a change in the world through her music.
During ABC's “Country Strong 2020: Countdown to the CMA Awards," airing Nov. 10 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC, the country singer, 30, discussed how the arrival of her first child -- 7-month-old Hayes Andrew Hurd, with her husband Ryan Hurd -- has impacted her and pushed her to raise her voice.
"I think having a baby has sharpened my vision on what I cannot stand anymore and what I have to stand for because I'm not just trying to solidify my place as this ingenue in country music," she said. "I feel like I've established myself here, and I have a community and now I'm paying it forward with my child's future, and I wanna do the right thing."
She said motherhood has also helped her embrace what message she wants to send and what she has "the guts to say."
This was evident when Morris released "Better Than We Found It" in October, a song that centers on social injustice and police brutality.
Morris wrote the powerful song with Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz and Jessie Jo Dillon. She said the trio started working on it following the 2020 United States national political conventions in August.
Some of the song's lyrics include: "Over and under and above the law/ My neighbor's in danger, who does he call?/ When the wolf's at the door all covered in blue/ Shouldn't we try something new?"
The country singer wanted to fully commit to sharing a pointed message in the track, and not "beat around the bush and be too diplomatic with it." She said she's seen some of her peers in the country music industry do that with their songs this year.
"I just wish, as a fan and as an American, I wish they had gone a little further with the message because it's very easy to perch on the fence and not piss anyone off -- and for me, I'm not trying to piss anyone off -- I'm trying to reckon with the fact that I have a kid that was born the year that the world stopped turning," she said.
"And what will I say to him about what his mom did the year that 2020 happened? Were you on this side or were you on that side?"
The release of "Better Than We Found It" was the singer’s way of making her stance clear to her fans across the country.
"I hate that there are sides, but you do kinda have to tell people -- you have to draw the line and tell them which side you're on," she said. "I wanna be on the right side of history and that's what it is."
Morris said when she heard the title of the song, she thought, "Oh God, that hits home for me because that's the sentiment I've been thinking about my son, watching all these conventions back to back and all the lies and division."
The song’s accompanying music video, directed by Gabrielle Woodland, features real people whose stories illustrate some of the song's central themes.
Gustavo Flores, a Dreamer who has lived most of his life in the United States and is at risk for deportation, is featured. Young protesters making Black Lives Matter signs and speaking about racial injustice are shown. The family of Daniel Hambrick, a 25-year-old Black man who was killed by a police officer in Nashville in 2018, also appear.
"It's almost like just kind of peering through the film of like -- no, I'm not some 'Hollywood lib' -- that's so stupid, and I hate that moniker that's been attached to anyone that doesn't spout conservative politics all the time, in country music especially. It's just so stupid," she said. "But showing the humanity of these people that are so often written off as statistics."
The singer said she expected the song's response to be "a lot more hateful" but found that most of the feedback was extremely positive. She said she's seen other artists face negative effects for using their voices on controversial issues.
"I know how difficult and hard it has been, especially since The Chicks have kinda left the country music sphere -- or were pushed out -- how hard it is to speak your mind in country music because I'm always threatened of being 'Dixie Chicked,' which is another really stupid phrase that's threatened two artists that have something to say."
"It is nice to know, especially since I'm speaking to my country, to have the resounding response be agreement," she added on the track's positive reception.
"Country Strong 2020: Countdown to the CMA Awards" airs Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
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