The success of "The Middle", Maren Morris' collaboration with Zedd and Grey, made a move toward pop seem almost inevitable. On GIRL, she does move considerably beyond the boundaries of contemporary country, but without abandoning the songwriting instincts or musicianship that established her in Nashville.
The distinction is important because the production is frequently very polished. Electronic percussion, synthesizers and carefully layered vocals place parts of the album firmly in mainstream pop, yet acoustic guitars, slide guitar and more traditional arrangements remain part of the same vocabulary. "All My Favorite People", with Brothers Osborne, could sit comfortably on a modern country record, while "The Feels" leaves enough space for a fine slide-guitar solo. The styles coexist rather than cancelling each other out.
Morris' voice is the element that makes the transitions convincing. It has enough grain and force to cut through the larger pop arrangements, but she can also pull back when the songs demand intimacy. The title track runs on a beautifully simple chiming guitar figure, gradually opening around a vocal performance that never needs to compete with its production. "Good Woman" goes in the opposite direction, slowing everything down around piano, strings and acoustic guitar and giving Morris room to sing with real emotional weight.
The album's most striking collaboration is "Common", her duet with Brandi Carlile. The arrangement is dark and spacious, with an almost trip-hop atmosphere beneath the two singers. Carlile and Morris have very different voices, but the contrast is precisely what gives the song its character: Carlile's broader, more dramatic tone meets Morris' sharper phrasing in a chorus where neither singer overwhelms the other.
There are moments when the pursuit of contemporary pop becomes less distinctive. "RSVP", for example, is slickly assembled and undeniably catchy, but its production could accommodate any number of mainstream singers. Morris is more interesting when the pop elements are being bent around her own musical personality rather than when she is fitting herself into an established radio format.
That tension runs through GIRL, and it is largely productive. Morris clearly understands the commercial possibilities opened by "The Middle", but the record never feels like a repudiation of country music. Instead, it treats country, pop, R&B and rock as neighboring territories. The strongest songs move between them without announcing the transition.
GIRL is therefore less a crossover record than a portrait of an artist whose definition of country music was already broad enough to absorb other sounds. The production can occasionally become too generic, but the melodies, the musicianship and Morris' voice keep pulling the album back toward something recognizably her own.
GENRE: Country, Pop
RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2019
PRODUCED BY: Maren Morris, busbee & Greg Kurstin
LABEL: Columbia Nashville
RATING: 7/10