MAREN MORRIS

The 29-year-old country singer has 10 Grammy nominations (including one win), a record-breaking album, a world tour and something to say about how her genre handles women, skin and outspokenness

- ANDREA DOMANICK

Q1: Your 2016 debut, Hero, won you a Grammy, and this year’s follow-up, Girl, was streamed 24 million times in its first week—the most for any studio country album by a woman. What does the spirit of this transition, from Hero to Girl, mean to you?

MORRIS: I wrote the bulk of Hero around four years ago at a time when virtually no women were being played on country radio. And from the few who were, I felt I wasn’t hearing my perspective. I wanted to hear less from a girl singing to a guy about how cute he is and how she wants him to notice her, and more from the perspective of 20-somethings who are out of college but aren’t quite ready to settle down. Those fun few years when you’re just a mess, you’ve got a few flings but are starting to come into your womanhood and adulthood. You’re not making as many of the same mistakes as you did in your early 20s, but you’re still not ready to call it a day. I wanted to be the sassy voice of reason. I was also going through a tough breakup after five years in my first real relationship. At the same time, my career was starting to take off. So Hero was part breakup record, part me finding my independence.

Over the next few years, I started to become more of a boss and a sort of CEO for myself, putting my band and crew on salary, giving them health insurance, becoming the head of this machine.

I also fell in love. I started to open up more to my fans. I wanted people to know I’m still that girl, but I’m growing up and I’m okay with being vulnerable. It’s not a weakness. When you find an equal in your life, it’s not you giving up anything or any part of you; it’s sharing your whole self with another whole self. It took me a second to realize that’s a good thing.