EPs are meant to be short, often lacking enough play time to be memorable. Yet Morris’ two-song EP “The Bridge” released on Sept. 15 is among the most significant country music releases in recent years. Through its two songs — “The Tree” and “Get The Hell Out Of Here” — “The Bridge” is Morris’ exit route from the country music genre.
Morris is not merely leaving country to pursue a new sound: She is stepping away from the genre due to its current unwavering anti-progressive ideals. Over the past five years, Morris became increasingly outspoken on social and political issues. Aside from Jason Aldean, who recently released what many deem a “modern lynching song” with his No. 1 single “Try That In A Small Town,” few other country artists are as politically transparent as Morris, especially on the left.
“After the Trump years, people’s biases were on full display,” Morris recently told the Los Angeles Times. “It just revealed who people really were and that they were proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic.”
Despite sexism and misogyny within the industry, Morris boasts a high-ranking discography, making her departure from country music all the more significant. Her album “HERO” (2016) and “GIRL” (2019) ranked No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, while “Humble Quest” (2022) reached No. 2. Additionally, “HERO” and “GIRL” broke into the top five of the Billboard 200.
Morris’ success is a consequential feat considering the institutional sexism in the industry. A recent study using data from 2022 found that female country artists were only played back-to-back on country radio 0.5% of the time, on average. When two songs by female country artists were played in a row, they were most often played between midnight and 6 a.m. which are times of low listenership.
Morris’ shift toward taking public political stances first gained notoriety ahead of the 2020 presidential election. In October 2020, she released “Better Than We Found It,” an ode to a socially and morally corrupt United States. The music video, which encouraged viewers to vote in the 2020 election, features real stories of individuals whose relatives fell victim to police brutality, families whom U.S. immigration policy harmed and adolescents participating in the Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights activism.
Reflecting on contemporary social and political maladies, Morris sings, “When time turns this moment to dust / I just hope my son’s proud of the woman I was / When lines of tomorrow are drawn / Can I live with the side that I chose to be on?”
Morris also made national headlines last year after she criticized Brittany Aldean for making a transphobic comment on Instagram. Tucker Carlson subsequently denounced Morris on Fox News, which displayed a chyron calling Morris a “lunatic country music person” during the segment. Morris used this as an opportunity to further her social activism, selling shirts with the phrase to raise over $150,000 for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). In fact, Morris announced on Sept. 20 that she will donate some proceeds from her upcoming show in Chicago to GLAAD.
Her timeline of being outspoken on social issues is crucial to appreciating “The Bridge.” Morris seems to be acting on her reflections in “Better Than We Found It” by leaving the country music genre. For the past few years, Morris chose to remain in country music. Sure, she advocated against racism, misogyny and homophobia, but by remaining in a genre that rewards people who espouse hatred, Morris was complicit in such bigotry. However, Morris has “said everything [she] can say,” so when her initial activism had no avail, she felt discontent with the genre and recognized that her next step was to leave country music, Morris told the Los Angeles Times.
Morris’ experience being an ally within the country music industry parallels the imagery in her song “The Tree.” She has her grounding in country music, yet as time goes on Morris grows in both celebrity and the ability to see the industry from different vantage points. As Morris continues her country music career, she continues to confront stigma against her gender, like when one radio host said female country singers should be like tomatoes on a salad, not the abundant lettuce. In the modern-day country genre, a white artist can say the N-word and his digital album sales increase by 1,220% within one day of the media publicizing the racist video and a so-called “modern lynching song” can reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Morris told the Los Angeles Times that she can no longer unsee this prejudice, claiming that such racism and misogyny is fixed in the genre itself. Since this is an ongoing issue in her roots, and she cannot take such rot anymore, Morris is now choosing to disaffiliate herself from what she views as a problematic genre.
“I’m takin’ an axe to the tree / The rot at the roots is the root of the problem / But you wanna blame it on me,” Morris prudently sings. “I hung around longer than anyone should / You’ve broken my heart more than anyone could.”
The accompanying music video to “The Tree” depicts how Morris views the country music genre through imagery of a small town. Located among lush greenery, bright blue skies and sturdy mountains, Morris peruses dollhouse-like neighborhood props. Cameras cut to a “don’t tread on me” lawn sign, which has problematic connotations, and a placard stating “go woke go broke.” These sentiments are exactly what Morris evades by leaving country music. The latter sign is likely reflecting an internal dilemma Morris faces — if she maintains her “woke” behavior by calling out racism, sexism and homophobia, she will not have a successful country music career. Another lawn sign includes the phrase “I believe in God & guns,” reminiscent of stereotypical, yet real, priorities in “small town” America.
The town is in shambles. Stores are closing, plants latch onto Morris’ leg as she tries to garden and wind gusts cause leaves, litter and dirt to fly around the street. It is time for Morris to leave. She strikes a match but notices that a tree is already engulfed in flames, symbolic of the country music genre already destroying itself. As flames roar behind her, Morris slowly strolls across a bridge, “[getting] the hell out of” the small town she once viewed as idyllic.
Crossing the bridge, Morris sings, “Heart lettin’ go of the weight it’s been holdin’ / I’ve made miracles in the shadows / But now that I’m out in the sun / I’ll never stop growin’, wherever I’m goin’ / Hope I’m not the only one.”
Morris is ready to start anew. Akin to Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” she was kept in the dark by being constrained to the country music genre. Not only does she not see a future for the genre based on its current politics, she doesn’t want to be complicit with the prejudicial message the industry espouses to society. Morris has crossed the bridge out of country music — she has escaped the shackles of the cave — and while the sunlight in the horizon may be burning her eyes, she can now have political and social autonomy.
“The Tree” music video aptly crosses into the “Get The Hell Out Of Here” music video, which opens with a view of a dull-looking small town with flames raging in the back.
Ashes now cover the same town as in “The Tree.” Morris sings, “I’ve gone against the grain and good advice / I drank my weight to dehydrate the thoughts that flood my mind / So to all my grand apologies I know are insincere / Go on, get the hell out of here.”
It is unclear where Morris will find heaven, whether just leaving the country music industry is good enough, or if she will need to take a further step by continuing to pursue her crucial advocacy in a different context. I think it is the latter, specifically with Morris transitioning into the pop or alt-pop realm. She already had experience releasing pop-friendly music like “The Middle” (2018) with Zedd and Grey, “Seeing Blind” (2017) with Niall Horan and “The Bones” (2019), which has a version featuring Hozier. Moreover, Jack Antonoff, who Morris collaborated with for “Get The Hell Out Of Here,” is also working with Morris on her next album. Antonoff is known for producing pop and alt-pop tracks for artists like Taylor Swift, Lorde and Lana Del Rey.
Regardless of what is to come, I am glad Morris has the confidence to leave a genre she finds harmful — to find a new way to try to make the country better than she found it. While I think Morris “[getting] the hell out of” country music is more symbolic than useful in engendering an accepting industry, clearly the fire she started is still burning. Morris sparked conversation within the industry, and celebrities are continuing to discuss the biggest country star to leave the genre since Swift.
