Maren Morris Reveals Why ‘My Church’ Gave Her a Panic Attack

Maren Morris burst onto the country music scene in 2016 with “My Church,” Morris’ debut single from her freshman Hero album. The song, which Morris wrote with songwriter and producer busbee, was written when Morris thought she was still writing songs for other people to sing them, until she realized no one could sing that song but her.

“My publisher brought me to L.A. to team with writers there,” Morris told Rolling Stone. “Ironically enough, I wrote ‘My Church,’ which is a very country song, out there. And I had a panic attack at the thought of someone else recording it. I felt like I would break out in hives if someone else sang those words. That had never happened to me before.”

When Morris moved from her native Texas to Nashville, she was focused on being a songwriter, believing she was already tired of being a singer.

“My only experience of touring was in Texas at bars, where I was background music for people getting hammered,” she reflected. “That was the only context I had for being an artist onstage. So when I moved to Nashville, I was like, ‘The Texas circuit was enough for me, so I’m going to be behind the scenes and hopefully write great songs for major artists.’ And it wasn’t until a few years and clocking a few hundred songs that I realized I did miss being the voice.”

Morris got to share her voice with those far beyond country music, when she joined Zedd and Grey on their hit, “The Middle.” The song, which became a multi-platinum No. 1 hit, gave Morris a bravery, while she was looking for songs for her own GIRL record, that she might not have had otherwise.

“‘The Middle’ made me less afraid to hit every nail on the head,” Morris acknowledged. “But I didn’t know until we got to the mixing phase if the album was going to feel cohesive, because it was so many genres in the melting pot. We did that on my first record, but this one felt like more of a pressure cooker — I have fans this time around! So I, initially, was a little afraid that all of these colors and sounds weren’t going to fit, but the amazing players helped it all make sense.

“And I think that especially in the streaming era, I don’t want to hear the same thing over and over again,” she added. “I want to see the bounds and leaps that an artist can convey in a single record.”

Photo Credit: Getty images/Matt Winkelmeyer