Maren Morris Says She Has No Plans to Be a 'Pop Star': 'That's Hilarious'
Morris opened up to 'Variety' about keeping her Texas roots close
Maren Morris won't be going "pop" anytime soon.
The country star, 33, opened up to Variety in an interview honoring her as Changemaker of the Year about her relationship with country music since announcing her departure from the toxic aspects of the business in September in The Los Angeles Times.
Morris told the outlet that she has no plans to "become a 'pop star.'"
“Obviously no — like, that’s hilarious," she said of the idea of the pivot.
Related: Maren Morris Clarifies She's 'Not Left Country Music': 'I Want to Take the Good Parts with Me'
Despite working with Jack Antonoff on “Get the Hell Out Of Here," which is featured on her most recent EP The Bridge, she's keeping her Texas roots close.
“I’m not getting out of Dodge. I love living in Nashville, and I don’t consider myself an expat of country music,” she told the publication. “There’s so many amazing people here making music that matters. I’m a piece of this town, and I want to make it better in the same ways I want the music industry to be better.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Morris discussed how she doesn't think of herself as a "badass" for deciding to take a step back from country music.
"I just got so sick of being a yes person to get ahead,” she told the publication. “I’ve been successful, but — I think — at a moral cost. I couldn’t keep doing the same song and dance.”
She said her questions about the lack of diversity and inclusion in the genre became more urgent when the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests happened.
While at the 2020 CMA Awards, where she received three awards for her hit single "The Bones," "she looked around at the crowd and stupidly realized for the first time that there were basically only white people there."
“I wish that I had woken up sooner," she added.
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Maren Morris performs in Boston in May 2023Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Last month, the "Girl" musician discussed her relationship with country music in The New York Times' Popcast.
"I couldn’t do this circus anymore — feeling like l have to absorb and explain people’s bad behaviors and laugh it off," she told the podcast. "I just couldn’t do that after 2020 particularly. I’ve changed. A lot of things changed about me that year."
She added that "leaving country music" was a bit of an exaggeration — but she "certainly can’t participate in a lot of it" and she's "OK just doing my own thing."
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