Maren Morris Performs ‘Girl,’ Talks Las Vegas Healing on ‘Today Show’

Maren Morris releases her second album Girl on March 8th — International Women’s Day. In honor of both the LP and the holiday, the songwriter appeared on NBC’s Today to perform the record’s title track and talk about its early success: it’s already atop the iTunes all-genre album chart.

Morris also recalled writing her Grammy-nominated song “Dear Hate,” which she released in the days following the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. To this day, she said, the emotional ballad is connecting with her listeners.

“Last night, I did a thing for YouTube, and there was a fan there that said she was [at Route 91] that night and she lost her dad. That was their last concert together. And that song ‘Dear Hate’ really helped bring some peace to their family. To have someone say that about a song you’ve written is unfathomable,” Morris said.

The Texas native co-wrote all 14 tracks on the new album. For the empowering first single “Girl,” Morris addressed the competition that can sometimes rear its head among fellow artists. “I was writing it as a letter to another girl who I felt had disrespected me and was constantly trying to be competitive with me when I just wanted to exist in my own space,” she told Rolling Stone. “But as we kept writing it, I realized I’m not talking to someone else — I’m talking to myself.”

Earlier this week, Morris conducted an interview with Brandi Carlile for Apple Music’s Beats 1, in which the women further discussed the idea of competition and support in the creative community. She kicks off her Girl: The World Tour on March 9th in Chicago.