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Maren Morris Seemingly Shades CMA Awards After Announcing Country Music Departure: ‘Vigilante S–t’
Maren Morris seemingly shaded the 2023 Country Music Association Awards after announcing her departure from the genre last month.
The “Girl” artist, 33, took to her Instagram Stories to share photos of her dolled-up in a skintight red dress while in New York City on Wednesday, November 8 — the same day as the Nashville awards ceremony. The songstress shared multiple photos; however one photo, in particular, showed the star flipping off the camera with her middle finger. In the background of the clip, Maren opted to play Taylor Swift’s “Vigilante S—t,” a seemingly pointed message shading the country music award show.
Earlier that day, the songstress was photographed alongside Kelly Clarkson while attending the SiriusXM Next Generation: Industry & Press Preview in the Big Apple. Both women dazzled in fiery red ensembles, adding even more flare to Maren’s message later in the day.
Maren first announced her departure from country music on September 15, noting she’d like to “burn it to the ground and start over” but it was already “burning itself down.”
“Obviously, being one of the few women that had any success on country radio, everything you do is looked at under a microscope,” she explained in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, revealing she wanted to try something new due to too much “drama” in country. “You’re scrutinized more than your male peers, even when you’re doing well. So, I’ve had to clear all of that out of my head this year and just write songs. A lot of the drama within the community, I’ve chosen to step outside out of it.”
She continued, “I’ve kind of said everything I can say. I always thought I’d have to do middle fingers in the air jumping out of an airplane, but I’m trying to mature here and realize I can just walk away from the parts of this that no longer make me happy.”
The Texas native further talked about her decision to leave country music during an October appearance on The New York Times’ “Popcast” podcast, dropping the bombshell that she asked for her music to no longer be considered for country awards.
“I couldn’t do this circus anymore — feeling like l have to absorb and explain people’s bad behaviors and laugh it off,” she said. “I just couldn’t do that after 2020 particularly. I’ve changed. A lot of things changed about me that year.”
Maren has seen success when it comes to different musical genres. Her 2018 pop collaboration “The Middle” with DJ and producer Zedd was a massive hit, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ultimately surpassing 1 billion Spotify streams.
