Review Summary: Taking back country with a vengeance.
What 26-year old Texan "country" artist and song-writer Maren Morris has roped and corralled with her empowering, sun-bathed "country" collections cannot be deemed as the same ol', wagoned classic cliques in which this Americanized, vintage style is used to being delivered and devised to. Meshing the liveliness of country with tough, hardened rock and a side of rhythmic and glitzy pop on top that speaks pre-Red/1989 era Taylor Swift vibes, this contemporary, feel-good feasting can't be, as Morris says in an interview with Rolling Stone, "really seeing the point of labeling [to a pop or country record]", and why wouldn't it be? It stood true to her word when she gave the country world some notice in her 2012 self-titled EP, barging down the door in her divisive, rustic compositions that feels like you're getting a different feel of just about everything. A listener of all diversities of music, being even labeled as a '90s pop fan originally in the Rolling Stone interview, and a songwriter for mainstays ranging from Tim McGraw to Kelly Clarkson, those clique boundaries that are usually existent in classic country are voided and blown off in her major-label, inviting debut Hero. A longing tribute to her musical inspirations such as Hank Williams and the late Johnny Cash, this revved-up coronation zooms as a free-ranged, energized road trip that places the foot on the gas pedal and doesn't let off of it, cruising through with hued intensity and letting the world know that another songwriter hasn't just found her groove, she's broken out in full force to give country a reason to look to the future with shimmering optimism.
The biggest issue with country that exists today is certainly the lack of evolution that comes along with it, over decades of time it has felt like country artists from far and wide have delivered, one way or another, seemingly similar music that only leads the bland, tasteless genre into aching limbo. It's always felt like it couldn't ever be multi-faceted. What Morris does isn't just breaking away from that boring script, she rips it all to shreds and builds her own distinctive kind, littered in pop and country vibes galore and other grassy, gritty essences with it to build her own kind of country, and making it multi-dimensional. Morris showcases that in full bloom with the nostalgic, pop/country showcase "80s Mercedes", a strung up, roady sequence that features thumping drums blasting to the summery essence of a beachfront guitar, invoking road-trip, scream-in-joy vibes all over. In a bubbly, sunny tranquility that swells up with her Texan-accented, bristled vocals accelerating throughout the landscape, it places the perfect set of a pop and country balance without either side overwhelming the road anthem. Tattooed in with playful, fun lines like "I'm a '90s baby/in my '80s Mercedes", it contributes to its sugary, poppy feel as she recognizes her love for her vintage Mercedes Benz convertible that has been the foundation for her numerous backstories to her humid, hot compositions. She knows how to make one hell of a country song too with ease, delivering a stunner in its pure, liquified form in the contradicting, scenic "Sugar" as it backs breezy, bustling guitars voyaging an seemingly serene, lush field of desire and ambition with her dramatic, intense vocals excitedly puts the exclamation point on top. Emotive, strengthening lines like "good on anything/want you on everything" speaks volumes to the diversity vaulted inside, and the fact that Morris is excellent on any sort of track you can think of, it wouldn't matter if she belted it out on country or on a radio-friendly pop track, she's made for the challenge and she exemplifies and excels in sheer fashion.
With every song at least co-written by Morris on the whole album, her sole vulnerability and honesty glows all over the variety of this disc. Whether it's dignifying her passion for music as filling her void as her "religion" (i.e her loving passion for it) and tributing to her late idols on her breakout hit in the peaceful, cool "My Church", or the badass metaphoric criticism of her lover with luxury in the lively, honest "Rich" - she doesn't cease to impress her country brethren whilst giving some deserved love to the overflowing pop audience. That's what makes Hero such a puzzling record, because this is unfamiliar, unknown territory for country, but only go to brand it as her own version of country. It goes all over the place, it takes country, rock, sugary pop, even a tad touch of rhythmic hip-hop all into one collage of brightened, classic textures that scale all across the music spectrum, resurrecting a genre that seems to just be barely treading water. The multi-faceted elements that Maren Morris breathes to life into her music is the sole foundation that is what deserves her rightful place as one of country's ascending wild-cards, a vivid engager that has oxygenated the seemingly blandness of country and giving it the long overdue rebirth that it's been longing for. Maybe that alone is what makes her the hero, the hero to her own genre that is.
