← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
The Making of Maren Morris's 'Dreamsicle' (Listening Party)
00:17:15
A Listening Party for Maren Morris's latest album 'Dreamsicle.'
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- [00:00]
Alison Stewart
All of it is supported by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Last year, Billboard named my next guest, Maren Morrison Morris, one of the 100 greatest country artists of all time. And just over a week ago, she released a new album titled Dreamsicle. Morris songwriting has always dabbled in pop and other genres without ever losing her Texas via Nashville Bonafides. Check out this from the new record.
- [00:53]
Maren Morris
Too Good Too good to leave, too bored to stay that's how the people that love me behave I manifested a life so pretty I let you in a room for a penny I fell in love with you where'd it get me? I was all that you had your name you made exc. Took your freedom you packed your toothbrush and sun felt seasoned so I looked closer it got me thinking my face looked exactly the same There was nothing left for you to claim Too good to leave, too bored to stay that's how the people that love me behave. It's too bad it's taken me this long to stay I was always too good for y' all anyway.
- [02:05]
Alison Stewart
On Dreamsicle, you get your country, but you also get some electronic and even some funkum there. The lyrics show Morris navigating life after divorce in all its complicated feelings. Freedom, joy, sadness, a sense of support from your community. Morris kicks off a global tour on July 12, with stops in New York in September. And she joins me now for for an all of it listening party. Hey, Maren.
- [02:28]
Maren Morris
Hi.
- [02:29]
It's nice to meet you.
- [02:30]
Alison Stewart
How are you doing?
- [02:32]
Maren Morris
I'm good. How are you?
- [02:33]
Alison Stewart
I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. I was thinking about Dreamsicle and I was thinking about having a dreamsicle. You can go up to, like any ice cream truck and get one this sort of melty, gooey deliciousness. But when did it become a metaphor for the album that you wanted to put together?
- [02:49]
Maren Morris
It was Dreamsicle, the song on the record that it's named after. It was a song that came to me in the middle of the night just at the end of last year. And I wrote it down really quickly because, you know when a song comes out of the sky like that, you just want to catch it before it evaporates. So I wrote it at like 3am One night. And I think it was just such a weird word that popped into my head, but it reminded me of like, those ice cream trucks from home. And also just like, what's the metaphor here? Because I'm trying to figure it out and like the. The darkest hour of the. The evening. But I. I think it was just about this fleeting moment of joy or beauty or just really anything that is. That you're experiencing. And just remembering that remaining present is a practice and it's really. It's. It's hard. So I think this whole song and then naming the whole album out after that song was my way of eternalizing that mantra of just, you know, it all goes away in its own way anyway, so you might as well just like, cherish it while it happens.
- [03:59]
Alison Stewart
Did you do strong ideas come to you just out of nowhere and you have to write them down?
- [04:06]
Maren Morris
A lot of times, yes. Like, it's very rare in the middle of the night that something will pop into my mind. But I always keep an acoustic guitar near my bed just in case, you know, the. The Muse hits at a inopportune hour and I will just, you know, I. I'll record something on my phone, have the guitar near, and I don't lose it. But it's. It's kind of fun when that happens because it feels almost divine in a way, because you're asleep. And then some lightning bolt hits when you are fully out of it, and it just feels so crystal clear. It almost feels, you know, spiritual.
- [04:44]
Alison Stewart
It's kind of amazing if you wake up in the morning and you hear something that you wrote at 2am and you think, that's pretty good.
- [04:51]
Maren Morris
Yeah. I mean, there have been times where I've woken up and I've been like, why did I think this was at all quality music? But with this one, I just. I woke up and I listened to it over and over again and I was like, I want to get in the studio and put this down pretty quickly. But I. Yeah, I mean, it just became the whole vibe of the album.
- [05:12]
Alison Stewart
The first song is called Lemonade. It's a bit of a play on the phrase of making lemonades out of lemons. Why was Lemonade the right song to start the record with?
- [05:24]
Maren Morris
I mean, I think one of my favorite things when I have a whole batch of songs is creating the track list, because I really. I don't grow. I don't go in chronological order of how they were written. I go. And what feels like a story arc to me. And then also I think about the listener hearing it. And what's a way to kick off something that feels like a really big snapshot of my life? And I think lemonade just felt extremely risky to start a project with. And it felt like it was setting the tone for the rest of the record because you don't quite know if this is going to be an album about grief or is it all going to be this sort of bombastic, quirky sass that lemonade has. Is it going to be vulnerable? I think it was a good way to throw the listener off and, you know, throw the scent off.
- [06:20]
Alison Stewart
Let's take a listen to lemonade.
- [06:34]
Maren Morris
It's raining rainbows turn pain into potential you walk away but I'm the quitter I like my taste you call it bitter too many cooks in the kitchen you take the truth and you twist it you pour your issues in the mixer you're the problem, I'm the fixer You're a waste of yelling, a waste of time you're a waste of lemons, a waste of limes you're a waste of my present a waste of my prime and I'm so sick I'm so sick of lemonade all this squeeze ain't worth the juice pour some sugar over me still not sweet enough for you? Got a lot of to say E.
- [07:26]
Alison Stewart
Never do tell me what that's Lemonade, from Marin Morris. It's off her new album, Dreamsicle. Although I think you could have named this album Sassy. You said that a minute ago.
- [07:38]
Maren Morris
Yeah, I mean, I think that's always present in my records is like. I don't know if it's from my Texas upbringing or my influences musically, but yeah, that's just how I write songs. There has to be a little bit of grit and like humor.
- [07:53]
Alison Stewart
You know, we were talking about how this record has so many different styles on it. You got your pop, you've got a little bit of funk in there, you've got sass in there. What made you want to just sort of just break through genre walls?
- [08:11]
Maren Morris
I mean, I never intentionally go into my co writes or even the studio thinking that, oh, here's the day I'm going to write my disco song or Americana. I think I just go in with a lyrical idea or a concept or a melody and then whoever I'm in the room with or whatever I maybe listen to on the radio on the way to the right that day. It's like, it's. So the variables are different each time. So I think because I listen to such a wide scope of music like Most of us do. It's just maybe it all goes in the kitchen sink, and that's what comes out each time is like. I don't know if it's from just having so many influences of genre, but also, yeah, just the people I'm writing with. A lot of different producers on this record brought different colors out of me that, you know, I'm just such a, like, chameleon to the day. I'm not really making a concept album ever of, like, oh, here's my. Here's my Americana record. Like, I think I've done projects like that with my band the Highwayman, where we had a very clear sound and vision and directive. But with my own work, you're gonna hear everything that inspires me. And so I think it's not that I'm trying to be this, like, genius at all of it. I think I just have a very unique version of it all coming through that faucet of my point of view and vocal.
- [09:43]
Alison Stewart
Behind you is the cutest dog I have ever seen.
- [09:46]
Maren Morris
I see. I see. He's stolen my son's llama toy as he usually does. Yeah, that's Alfie. He's my miniature dachshund.
- [09:57]
Alison Stewart
Hi, Alfie.
- [09:58]
Maren Morris
Hope you're having a good day.
- [10:00]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk about some of those co writers you had on the record. Jack Antonoff and Laura Veltz, Big name in country music. We're gonna play. People still show up. Tell me about how this song was written.
- [10:13]
Maren Morris
We wrote this a couple years back towards the beginning of this album being. And I think we were just at Electric Lady Studios working with Jack. Me and Laura have written so many songs before, but I wanted to bring her into a session with Jack because she's like my writer Swiss Army Knife. And we've just written so many of my, like, favorite songs together. But we just had the best few days at this, like, iconic studio. Like, Electric lady has so many of my favorite records being made there. And it was like New York, springtime, perfect weather. Uh, and we were just talking about, like, how even in the midst of chaos and anxiety and on your worst day, sometimes, like, friends that you have not spoken to in years will reach out to you almost like this. This force of the universe being, like, someone's thinking about you right now, even at your weirdest low, and, you know, you're not alone. And, like, people, even the ones you least expect still will, like, show up to the show, or they'll come help you move. Or, you know, just those people that, like, at the End of the day, have your back even though, like, you don't have to like, constantly be in each other's lives. So I thought that was like an interesting look at friendship and how long friendships sort of look like that where there's not this sort of performative, transactional aspect to them. Like where you have to just check in every single day with each other. Sometimes those long, long, historic friendships are just like quality over quantity.
- [11:50]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen to People Still show up from Aaron Morris.
- [12:07]
Maren Morris
Somebody changed the topic from this toxic misanthropic sure is a pressure cooker Salt, no sugar Life has pushed you so low down into the mud but people still show up Easy access to the tragic Hard to find the hint of magic now you're feeling really bad it's like no matter how bad the push goes right into the shove, people still show up. Why is it that when the world is ending and you didn't have a friend, it's the friends you never think to call our own. Up with a pickup truck People still show up.
- [13:07]
Alison Stewart
My guest is Maren Morris. She's joining us for an all of it listening party for her new album Dreamsicle. What do you look for in collaborators when you wanna work with a. Work with something. What is something they have to have?
- [13:23]
Maren Morris
I love a sense of humor. I think that breaks the ice in any sort of collaborative session. Especially when you're just meeting each other. It sometimes feels like a blind date. And you could be a fan of each other's work, but if you have not, you know, hung out in any social environment before going right into a vulnerable place is. Is tough. So I think when I connect deeply with people off the bat, it's because they've made me laugh and there's just no intense ego. I want people with an open mind and open heart. The whole way I've learned to write songs with other people since living in NASHVILLE the last 12 years is that you have to leave your ego at the door to get the best song. And you don't come in with your whole list of accomplishments or, you know, this and that. You just like you. You want to sort of devote yourself to the integrity of getting the best song that day. And so I think those are the people I work best with. I also just love people that are real, like open books with their influences, like they. They bring. I. I love when people bring ideas to me. I think because I started as a. A songwriter for other artists and not really writing for myself, I now that I am an artist and people are Writing with me, for me, I really find it refreshing when they bring me something that they're excited about because I think so often, you know, I'm the one leading the, you know, the charge because it's my, you know, song. But I. I do feel inspired when I can funnel my experience through an idea someone's maybe brought me that day. So, yeah, I mean, like, all my. My longest collaborators are. Well, they're. They're friends now. That's how we met is through our sessions. But yeah, I think I just look for people that can laugh at themselves, that don't take it too seriously because it's like we could write the most gut wrenching song that day. But we've had this human experience and laughs and, you know, sometimes tears writing it. And I think that's my favorite part of the process is like getting to know people, but also leaving the room with a beautiful song I want to.
- [15:44]
Alison Stewart
Play Push Me Over. What should I know about Push Me Over?
- [15:49]
Maren Morris
So I wrote this song a couple days after my first date with a woman. And I was writing with my friend Tobias Jesso Jr. But also one of my favorite bands, Muna. I was riding with all of them that day. And we were all really getting to know each other, even though we were fans of each other's work. But it was just. It ended up being like such a fun day of a lot of exploration, a lot of long chats about discovery of self. Even in your mid-30s, still finding new pockets of personality in yourself and new discoveries this and that. But anyhow, it ended up being like such a fun day. And the song itself is so boisterous and fun. There's a lot of like 80s synth influences in this, but it's really just about. Yeah, just the exploration of new parts of yourself. So, yeah, that's what pushed me over.
- [16:49]
Alison Stewart
Came from the album is called Dreamsicle. I've been talking to Maren Morris. Maren, thanks for joining us.
- [16:57]
Maren Morris
Yeah, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for having me.
- [16:59]
Alison Stewart
And we're gonna go out on Push Me Over.
- [17:05]
Maren Morris
I've been waiting for a night like this. We can test out my hypothesis. Necklace rests just so on your collarbone. Makes me want to know.
- [17:35]
Alison Stewart
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