Maren Morris is ready to take fans across “The Bridge” into the next chapter of her career.
“BRIDGE; a connecting, transitional, or Intermediate route or phrase between two adjacent conditions,” wrote Morris, 33, in the new music announcement she posted to Instagram on Tuesday, September 12. While this definition may suit Merriam-Webster, for Morris, “The Bridge” — the name of the song she’s dropping Friday, one of two new tracks — honors “where I’ve been and, but also, feels like a forward step into the sun.”
“As I’ve been working on my record nonstop this year,” she continued, “I realized these two songs deserved a moment on their own — a story in their own right, written a day apart from each other — a tender duo and bridge to my next album. I welcome, celebrate and grieve the changes that have happened these last few years, and these two songs say it better than I ever could in a caption or interview.”
Those fans patiently waiting for the follow-up to 2022’s Humble Quest will not have to wait much longer. Morris’s next album “is coming, but in the meantime, let’s cross the bridge together,” she wrote. “Hope you enjoy these. ‘Wherever I’m going, hope I’m not the only one.'”
She included a pre-save link to “The Bridge” on Spotify and Apple Music and the single’s artwork. The image featured Morris wearing a black halterdress with a long, flowing slit skirt and black knee-high boots. Along with the title of the upcoming single — “The Bridge” — the cover art featured the words “The Tree” and “Get The Hell Out Of Here.” Before fans could theorize if those were the names of the second single and/or the upcoming album, the comments section was disabled.
Days before announcing “The Bridge,” Morris had been active on Instagram, sharing photos from her performances in Calgary and Vancouver — and possibly shading her country music nemesis, Jason Aldean.
On Thursday, September 7, she posted an image of herself seemingly wearing her outfit from the 2016 County Music Association Awards. At the ceremony, she took home New Artist of the Year — while Aldean, 46, vented about not receiving any nominations at the time.
Morris also shared a clip of a model town with a tiny billboard reading, “Welcome to our Perfect Small Town From Sunrise to Sundown,” seemingly a nod to Jason’s controversial song, “Try That in a Small Town.”
Morris clashed with Jason and his wife, Brittany Aldean, in 2022 over comments that Brittany, 35, made on Instagram. “I’d really like to thank parents for not changing my gender when I went through a tomboy phase,” Brittany wrote, with Jason chiming in, “I’m glad they did too, cause you and I wouldn’t have worked out,” he wrote.
Morris wasn’t laughing at this apparent transphobic comment and called them out. “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?” she wrote.
