Maren Morris Says She 'Weirdly' Felt Empowered When Receiving Criticism

Maren Morris discussed her experience with receiving criticism and her new album Humble Quest in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"I've weirdly felt empowered in times where I've gotten the most criticism, like when I did Playboy in 2019," Morris said. "There were a lot of people clutching their pearls over literal side boob, not even the whole boob, like just get over it." She added, "Dolly Parton did Playboy in the '70s, so everyone chill out." In an Instagram post last month, the singer opened up about her experience posing for Playboy in 2019.

She wrote: "Before I go into the next album era, I did @playboy in 2019 and got a lot of hate at the time, but I’m the proudest that I showed country female sexuality in its realist form here. We are nuanced, we are messy and stretch-marked in the most beautiful way. Don’t sleep on us. We tell your down home stories in the most unflinching, gorgeous lane. Don’t forget it."

Morris then went on to discuss her latest album Humble Quest with EW, "I was really intentional to make these songs feel hopeful because they were pulling me out of a hopeless place and they made me feel hopeful again." She continued, "Music was such a gift to me during the last few years, as I know it was for many of us. These were just the songs, I felt like if they were helping me, maybe if 10 more people heard it, it would help them too. That's how the whole record came to be."