Maren Morris Puts The Country Music Community On Blast, Calls It “Very Politicized” & “Dicey”

Maren Morris shared a video on TikTok criticizing the country music community, saying how it’s become “politicized” and the artists aren’t “very friendly.” (Photo Credits: Maren Morris / TikTok & John Nacion / Penske Media via Getty Images)

Maren Morris Stepped Away From Country Music In 2023

Maren Morris put the country music community on blast in a new video, calling the genre “very politicized” and “dicey.”

This isn’t Morris’ first time speaking out against country music. In 2023, the “My Church” singer told the Los Angeles Times that she felt “very distanced” from the genre after sharing her political views, which generated criticism from fans and figures in the community.

“I’ve always been an asker of questions and a status quo challenger just by being a woman,” she said at the time. “So it wasn’t really even a choice. The further you get into the country music business, that’s when you start to see the cracks. And once you see it, you can’t un-see it.“

She added, “I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over. But it’s burning itself down without my help.”

Morris spoke about her decision to step away from the genre, saying, “I’m trying to mature here and realize I can just walk away from the parts of this that no longer make me happy.”

Maren Morris on the red carpet at the ACM Awards in 2022. (Photo Credit: Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic / Getty Images)
Two months after her interview with the Los Angeles Times, Morris walked back her comments. During an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Morris clarified that she wasn’t truly “leaving” country music.

“No, no, no. I’m taking the good parts with me, and all are welcome,” she said. “But, yeah, there were just some facets of it that I didn’t really jibe with anymore. So, I’m a lot happier now.“

Morris later doubled down, saying she never left country music. She wrote, “my country and my country music live in me.”

Maren Morris Criticizes The Country Music Community In New Video, Says “No One Is Very Friendly”

More recently, Morris shared a 6-minute, 39-second video calling out the country music community. She shared her belief that the genre has become “very politicized” in the past 10 years, saying:

“My first album, Hero, with ‘My Church,’ it came out in June of 2016, and Trump won in November of 2016. So my entire success of my first record was under this first year of Trump’s reign. So weirdly, everything felt very political. Even though no one cared that much before, this was a very big year for us all to be blindsided of his win. So the last 10 years of my career have been under this…Trump presidency, Biden, then Trump again. And it’s been quite interesting to see the country music space become very politicized.”

Morris also criticized country artists themselves, saying, “No one is very friendly.“

“I love country music. I love Nashville. I live there,” she said. “I’ve not lived anywhere else in the last 13 years. But it’s been very hot. Like, no one is very friendly. Some people are cool, but it’s been very dicey at these award shows and s***. And I don’t really go to [the awards shows] anymore, but it’s been very heated.”

She continued, “I’ve sacrificed a lot of my mental health, my financial standing, [and] my family, just because I’m so deeply concerned and uncomfortable with the weird status quo of country music.“

Morris said that she has been “put off” by some “people and energies” in the industry in the past few years. She added, “So I’ve stepped away in certain facets, but I still love country music, obviously.”

Hear more of Morris’ comments in the video below.