Country singer-songwriter Maren Morris wasn’t playing shyly with her nearly nude photos for her June 2019 feature on Playboy.
Morris exuded sexiness, power, and playfulness as she posed topless, paired with red pants, cowhide cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. It was the magazine’s celebration of its summer issue for “Gender and Sexuality,” and behind the lens was Harper Smith, who also previously photographed Leon Bridges, Midland, and Jesse Plemon.
But this wasn’t just about showing off her body. Maren Morris also fearlessly talked about topics including sexuality and feminism from the perspective of herself as an individual, female artist, and married woman.
“Why not?”
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It was rare for a country artist like Maren Morris to agree to be photographed by Playboy. However, the singer said she was reminded of Dolly Parton.
The country music legend also made the bold move to do a PLAYBOY cover in October 1978. There was a lot of drama, but it ended up making one of the magazine’s most iconic covers.
She was intrigued and fascinated at the time, especially because this wasn’t the only time that Parton bucked the status quo. More importantly, it was just one of the many times she challenged the sexuality and gender norms within country music.
So she went, why the hell not?
Morris wasn’t even the least bit concerned with people’s reactions. She said, “I feel I’ve already challenged many sexual norms. It’s funny because it’s not that risqué in the grand scheme of things.” Even the cover of her album “GIRL” was considered risque. However, she felt it was just a “throwback but a little modern.”
In fact, when Morris chose that cover, she knew she’d get flak for it (especially her little titties), but she embraced her body and owned it. And doing things that absolutely scare the sh*t out of her is when she feels the sexiest.
Of course, embracing one’s body didn’t mean she wouldn’t work on it. That was why she was also actively bettering herself, exercising to be strong and feel like Lara Croft. She didn’t want to be skinny.
The singer also added that every year, she was trying to peel back her emotional and physical layers.
And another thing about Morris was that she wasn’t afraid to clap back to slut-shamers, body-shamers, or anyone who thought she couldn’t give an opinion about anything. She didn’t regret (not even once) calling them out because, as she said, they asked for it and deserved it.
“Being a woman isn’t the most interesting thing about me.”
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As a female artist, Maren Morris often found herself getting asked the same question every single time: “What’s it like to be a woman in the music industry today?”
She was getting tired of it, and she wished people wouldn’t just see her as a woman or as a female artist. She was more than that because she was also the writer and the producer of her own work. She also expressed how she didn’t want to be remembered as a “great female artist.” She wanted to be known as a “great artist.”
Aside from that, she was someone who had grown to be fearlessly outspoken with her music.
According to Morris, she could just shut up and sing, keep her head down, and not talk about anything that might trigger the audience, but that wasn’t her.
She said, “I swear quite a bit. I talk openly about drinking. I’m learning things about myself that are starting to freak me out, in a good way.” She added that becoming an adult was sometimes less about maturing and more about being a little more freewheeling.
“Being married helped me figure out who I am independently.”
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Marriage definitely taught Maren Morris a lot about herself.
According to the singer, her husband, Ryan Hurd, was very much a feminist, and she had never really done anything to freak him out. That and the fact that he was always so accepting of her. Even with her Playboy feature, Hurd was all for it and even told her that it was really hot.
To her, it felt awesome to be with someone who was an equal and didn’t make her feel like a “skank” just because she was proud of her body.
Ultimately, she was happy to be with “someone who’s not watering down your ideologies for patriarchal and bullshit standards that women in country music have been locked into for the past several decades.”
Check out the full spread of Maren Morris’s nearly nude photoshoot below. You can also read her whole interview with the magazine here.