Country

Does Maren Morris Shade Jason Aldean in New Song?

Morris posted a music teaser in which the words “Small Town” are featured prominently.
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Maren Morris’ new music teaser seemingly makes a dig at fellow country star Jason Aldean. Morris’ Instagram post on Thursday showed a photo of her with a skeptical look, followed by a pan-in to a sign that reads, “Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town From Sunrise to Sundown.” Red block letters spell “Small Town” with an image of an American flag behind them. Morris sings in the clip’s audio, “Oooo, do ya hear?” The singer captioned the post, “I’m done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom.” Along with the video clip, the post also included a picture of Morris appearing to be dressed in the same outfit she wore at the Country Music Association awards in 2016. 

That year, Morris won the New Artist of the Year award, while Aldean spoke out about receiving no nominations. “There’s nothing I can go do that’s gonna magically get us nominated next year, or the year after that. At this point I feel like I’ve gone out and done everything I can do to put ourselves in a position to be there, and people either vote for you or they don’t,” he told Nashville reporters in September 2016, according to Taste of Country.

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There has been a lot of speculation about Morris’ music video teaser being a direct reference to the controversial song and video released by Aldean, “Try That in a Small Town,” which was released in July. In response to allegations of violence, pro-gun, and pro-lynching, the music video was pulled from CMT. Notably, the video was filmed in front of the enormous American flag displayed at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, which was the site of Henry Choate’s lynching in 1927. The music video is intercut with clips of protestors vandalizing cities in the wake of police brutality and racial tension during the height of the pandemic. The video was later edited to remove the Black Lives Matter images from the video. 

Amidst the controversy over the summer, the country singer posted to social media, saying, “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it — and there is not a single video clip that isn’t real news footage — and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music — this one goes too far.” 

The statement continued, “‘Try That In a Small Town,’ for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to — that’s what this song is about.” 

As Brandi Carlile suggested in the comments section on Morris’ new post, Morris may be throwing shade at Aldean. “Oh it is ON 🔥,” she wrote. Carlile was one of the stars who stood by Morris during the controversy over comments made by Jason’s wife, Brittany Aldean, about transgender people in August 2022. In an Instagram post, Brittany thanked her parents for “not changing my gender” while she was going through a “tomboy phase.” At the time, Morris responded by tweeting, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.” An exchange of retorts ensued, with Jason posting a picture of Brittany with the caption, “MY Barbie.” Afterward, Brittany appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where Morris was labelled a “lunatic country music person,” a title that Morris took to heart. In order to raise money for Trans Life Line and GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program, Morris created a T-shirt line using the moniker as a slogan. With the sales of the t-shirts, she raised more than $100,000 for the two organizations.