Country superstar Maren Morris takes us on an intimate, vulnerable journey while embracing her newfound identity and freedom on her EP, ‘Intermission.’

Stream: ‘Intermission’ – Maren Morris

Maren Morris is known for her presence.

From her debut album Hero to her wildly successful Girl and her last record Humble Quest, you know a Maren Morris song immediately. Her music is made for vast venues and long car rides with the windows rolled down and the volume up high.

Having seen her live, I can attest to her larger-than-life stage presence and her powerful vocals that are one third country, one third pop and one third R’n’B. She’s all in or nothing, and the same can be said for her politics. She took on Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Jason and Brittany Aldean, stood up for the LGBTQIA+ community, for which she recently came out as a member, and spoke out on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe Vs. Wade. Morris has been “Dixie-Chicked” by the mainstream country industry (see when The Chicks criticised the war in Iraq) and still triumphed.

Intermission (out 2 August 2024 via Columbia Records) shows a different version of Morris: Messy, vulnerable, frustrated, a slew of contradictions.

EP opener “cut!” – a duet with Julia Michaels – gives us an introduction into what to expect with five-track EP:

i’m such a pro
put a hell of a show on
as soon as I close that door shut
i’m screaming “cut”
i need a moment to just
let my tears fall where they want
honestly, f*
i’ve held it in long enough
i give it all that I got
i’m screaming “cut”

Intermission is all the stories that happen in the middle – the moment the curtain falls, and the audience erupts into muted chatter.

We get up, go the bathroom, grab a drink, play on our phones and talk about the show we’ve just seen.

In a BBC Radio 4 discussion about the British classic Brief Encounter, screenwriter Moira Buffini said, “These great moments of drama in people’s lives, this how they happen. The great moments of drama don’t come like they do in epic action films, they come over cups of tea.”

Though this was said about a film made nearly a century ago, I feel this is an apt description for Morris’ Intermission. The collection of songs is not about the big events but rather about the incremental moments behind our front doors, in our bedrooms, or our imaginations, that lead to us changing as humans.

The ‘60s soul inflected “I Hope Never Fall in Love” is the bit right after a relationship ends where you swear to yourself and everyone around you that you won’t ever make that mistake again. We all know it’s futile and not true, not quite a lie, but a porous promise.

Morris says of the song, “it’s a bittersweet heartbreaker because I’m in self-protection mode but still want to feel things. I, of course, DO want to fall in love again, but I can’t put my heart through it just yet,” she added. “So, here’s a number about this strange but constructive (and destructive) window of my life.”

i’m a woman of my word
love, you only did me dirty
forever was a f*in lie
so goodbye
you only made it worse
i hope i never fall in love

“Push Me Over” sits perfectly in the middle of the EP and feels like Morris’ expression of her bisexuality for the first time in songwriting; “Show me where to go, not been here before, don’t know what it is but I like the flavor.”

The song is full of innuendo and risqué lyrics. This isn’t the first time Morris has played with sex in song. “Nervous”, off Humble Quest, talked about female desire and female pleasure, something which is rarely if ever touched upon by women in country music. “Nervous” had a gritty, indie vibe to it. “Push Me Over” feels celebratory with its ‘80s synths and electro-pop and high energy chorus and sensuous verses.

In sum, “Push Me Over” is deliciously explicit, and I’m here for it.

want you in my bed
’cause I don’t need more friends
the more that you come closer
i want you to push me over

sitting on the fence
feels good between my legs
the more that you come closer
i want you to push me over

The EP’s closing track, “This Is How a Woman Leaves” is Maren Morris at her most vulnerable.

There’s no cutting lines or “f**k you” attitude or a big bang ending.

The song is a story of a couple breaking apart quietly and behind closed doors.

If this how it’s gonna be now
I’ll go where you can’t follow me
And you can’t call, and you can’t say anything
You have the nerve to ask why I’m not crying;
I did all my crying lying next to you

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 © Ashley Osborn

Intermission

an EP by Maren Morris