Louder: Maren Morris, a Pop-Curious Hitmaker, Is Country, After All

January 14, 2022

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Music writers love having conversations about whether a country star is going to cross over to the pop world (thank Taylor, I guess), but I’ve watched Maren Morris with particular curiosity over the past few years because she was featured in our very first Diary of a Song in 2018. The track was “The Middle,” the inescapable Zedd hit, and it seemed to be setting her up for … something pretty mainstream. But she’s chosen another path. Joe Coscarelli, our Diary maestro, had a fresh conversation with Morris as she prepares to release a new album in March. “Having dug her heels in on Nashville as home, both literally and musically,” he writes, “Morris seems to have realized in real time that the most rebellious way to be a young female country singer was to insist on staying a country singer.”

The “Encanto” soundtrack ousted Adele from No. 1 on this week’s Billboard album chart, and Ashley Spencer took a look at how Disney made its biggest hit since “Let It Go” with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” But the “Encanto” album will likely be displaced shortly by the latest from the Weeknd, “Dawn FM,” “an uninterrupted set of iridescent megapop anthems blended like a D.J. mix” that Jon Caramanica named a Critic’s Pick. (Elvis Costello & the Imposters’ new album is also a Pick, from Jon Pareles.)

And news of Ronnie Spector’s death hit us all hard Wednesday afternoon. What an innovator; what a survivor; what an inspiration.

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Maren Morris, a Pop-Curious Hitmaker, Is Country, After All

With proven Top 40 chops, the singer has still chosen to call Nashville home on her third album, “Humble Quest,” due out in March.

By Joe Coscarelli

THE CRITICS

Brian Ziff

Critic’s Pick

The Endless Pop Shimmers of the Weeknd

“Dawn FM” extends and reimagines Abel Tesfaye’s fixation on perfect pop that he’s been chasing since the mid-2010s.

By Jon Caramanica

Mark Seliger

Critic’s Pick

Elvis Costello & the Imposters Are Still Blasting Away

With his longtime bandmates, the English songwriter noisily demolishes illusions on “The Boy Named If.”

By Jon Pareles

The Playlist

FKA twigs Seeks Angelic Intervention, and 10 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Maren Morris, Stromae, Robert Glasper and others.

By Jon Pareles, Isabelia Herrera and Lindsay Zoladz

How Big Can a TikTok Duet Get?

The singer-songwriter Sadie Jean performed a lovelorn track and left room for a response. Lil Yachty took the bait. But their duet isn’t the track available for streaming.

By Jon Caramanica

Critic’s Notebook

Jonny Greenwood: First Radiohead, Now Orchestras and Film

Scoring films like “The Power of the Dog” and “Spencer,” he has become a major composer, his concert music fueling his soundtracks.

By Seth Colter Walls

2021 in Jazz: Intimacy and Conversation

Throughout the pandemic, the music’s flexibility has become an asset. Where will artists take it next?

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We’re Going to Talk About ‘Bruno,’ Yes, Yes, Yes

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto” is a surprise chart topper and TikTok darling. Here’s how Disney created its biggest smash since “Let It Go.”

By Ashley Spencer

My Ten

Why Kane Brown Loves Cookie Monster, Elvis Presley and ‘Ted Lasso’

The country star’s list of must-haves mixes heartstring-yanking shows, sports video games and powerhouse musicians known for shaking up the culture.

By Jeremy Gordon

A Rising Designer Brings Hip-Hop to Homeware

Sean Brown is the creative force behind Curves, a home décor brand inspired by African American pop culture. “I always aim to celebrate Blackness,” he said.

By Iman Stevenson

OBITUARIES

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Ronnie Spector, Who Brought Edge to Girl-Group Sound, Dies at 78

As a member of the Ronettes, she sang on the hits “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You.”

By Ben Sisario and Joe Coscarelli

Michael Lang, a Force Behind the Woodstock Festival, Dies at 77

He and his partners hoped their weekend of “peace and music” would draw 50,000 attendees. It ended up drawing more than 400,000 — and making history.

By Ben Sisario

Marilyn Bergman, Half of an Oscar-Winning Songwriting Duo, Dies at 93

With her husband, Alan, she wrote the lyrics to “The Way We Were” and “The Windmills of Your Mind,” as well as a number of memorable TV themes.

By Anita Gates

James Mtume, Whose ‘Juicy Fruit’ Became a Hip-Hop Beat, Dies at 76

In a wide-ranging career, he went from playing percussion with Miles Davis to writing and producing sleek R&B to a long stint on political talk radio.

By Jon Pareles

Stephen Lawrence, Whose Music Enriched ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies at 82

He composed the title song of the landmark album “Free to Be … You and Me.” He then moved on to Big Bird and friends.

By Neil Genzlinger

Bill Staines, Folk Music Mainstay, Dies at 74

Among his best-known songs were “River,” “The Roseville Fair” and a cross-generational classic, “A Place in the Choir.”

By Neil Genzlinger

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Coachella to Return in April With Billie Eilish and Kanye West

The California festival and Bonnaroo, in Tennessee, both announced lineups this week as the live-music industry looks ahead after two years of events scuttled by the pandemic.

By Ben Sisario

The Charts

‘Encanto’ Soundtrack Ousts Adele From No. 1

The album of music from the latest Disney animated film climbs to the top of the Billboard 200 after first arriving in November.

By Ben Sisario

Two Held in Fatal Shooting of the Memphis Rapper Young Dolph

One suspect was captured by federal marshals in Indiana after failing to surrender as he had promised on social media, the authorities said.

By Christine Chung

‘Mockingbird,’ Once a Broadway Smash, to Pause Production Amid Omicron

“Girl From the North Country,” a musical using the songs of Bob Dylan, also closed, with hopes of reopening in the spring, as the surge in virus cases continues to upend the theater industry.

By Michael Paulson

National Endowment for the Humanities Announces $24.7 Million in New Grants

The awards will support projects including Cherokee language translation, a digital map of jazz and hip-hop in Queens, and a study of the secret language of French butchers.

By Jennifer Schuessler