Maren Morris Chooses Love Over Being Cool in ‘Background Music’
Check out this deep-thinking roots rocker.
In her new track “Background Music,” Grammy wining country star Maren Morris pledges to live life like it’s going out of style … and then settle in to whatever comes next.
A thoughtful ballad with an eye toward life’s big picture, it finds an artist who’s already made a bold mark on the world, considering whether that means anything or not.
Written by Morris with Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, the song is taken from Morris’ forthcoming album, Humble Quest, slated for release on March 25. It features a breathy, reflective tone — especially in Morris’ day-dreamy vocal — and shades of melancholy brought out by piano, raspy electric guitars and minor chords. A soft-focus, somewhat blurry music video goes along with the track, and along with footage of Morris and her one-and-a-half year old son, Hayes, it seems to find her deciding that true love and happiness is more important that being “cool.”
“I wrote ‘Background Music’ about the beauty of the temporary, which is inevitably all things,” Morris writes of the track. “The romanticism of eternity sounds nice, but I like to think I savor things better when I know I’m not entitled to it in perpetuity. It’s a love song that addresses mortality but it’s also promising someone that even when we aren’t cool anymore, I want to grow old with them and laugh about the times we thought we were.”
“We got time but we’re only human / We call it forever but we know that there’s an end to it / You and I can dance our way through it / And I’ll love you till all that we are is background music,” goes the chorus.
“Background Music” follows the lead single from Morris’ upcoming album, Humble Quest. “Circles Around This Town” is currently climbing the country radio chart.
Described as Morris’ “most genuine collection of songs” to date, Humble Quest arrives on March 25 and traces her story of becoming a star, having a baby, losing a dear friend to cancer and enduring a pandemic, all while grappling with what it means to be authentic.
Yesterday (February 10) Maren Morris was nominated for Female Artist of the Year at the upcoming 57th Academy of Country Music Awards.
