Maren Morris is leaving country music due to ‘Trump years,’ use of music in ‘culture wars’
Singer Maren Morris says she is quitting country music following the genre's transformation during the presidency of Donald Trump.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Morris explained that she intended to shift her musical style because "after the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display."
"It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic," she added of the four-year period in which President Donald Trump was in office. "All these things were being celebrated, and it was weirdly dovetailing with this hyper-masculine branch of country music. I call it butt rock."
The 33-year-old Grammy winner is best known for her collaboration with Zedd on "The Middle," which hit No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 list, and "The Bones," which reached No. 12.
But many conservatives are not sad to see her go.
"The truth is, country music quit her," wrote one conservative commentator. "Awards shows had issues getting artists to sit near her because she’s so insufferably woke & toxic. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Maren!"
"Poor Karen," posted another person.
"JUST IN: President Trump to be indicted over D class country music wannabe artist who says she’s leaving the industry because of Trump," one said.
"Everything is Donald Trump’s fault. It’s Donald Trump’s fault that Maren Morris’s voice sounds like auto-tune dog shit," lamented far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Asked about the success of Jason Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town"—which went viral and hit No. 2 on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 chart after being widely promoted by conservative influencers—Morris argued that some people "are streaming these songs out of spite."
Aldean's song includes lyrics that critics argue glorify gun violence. “Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk / Carjack an old lady at a red light / Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store / Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like …. Well, try that in a small town," he sings.
"It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs," Morris said of Aldean's song going viral. "And that’s so not what music is intended for. Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars."
Morris appeared to take a jab at Aldean's message in a Sept. 7 post teasing her new song "The Tree."
"Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town from sunrise to sundown," reads a billboard in her post.
It wouldn't be the first time Morris has voiced her dissent from Aldean.
Last year, Morris criticized Aldean's wife—Brittany—for sharing what she perceived as transphobic comments on social media.
Morris' response prompted ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson to dub her a “lunatic country person.”
According to The Hill, Morris used Carlson's on a T-shirt which she sold, raising $100,000 for transgender rights organizations.
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