''Girl'' is the second studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Maren Morris Maren Larae Morris (born April 10, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter. While rooted in the Country music, country genre, her music also blends elements of Pop music, pop, R&B music, R&B, and Hip-Hop music, hip-hop. Born and raised in Arlingt ...

, released on March 8, 2019 through

Columbia Nashville Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the Amer ...

. It was preceded by the single "

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...

”. The promotional single "Common", featuring

Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile ( ; born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer whose music spans many genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. , Carlile has released seven studio albums. She has ...

, was released alongside the album pre-order on February 8. The track was later nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the

62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...

, while the album's second single "

The Bones The Bones (), at high, is the seventh-highest peak in Ireland on the Lists of mountains in Ireland#Arderins, Arderin list, or the eighth-highest according to the Lists of mountains in Ireland#Vandeleur-Lynams, Vandeleur-Lynam list. It is part ...

" was nominated for

Best Country Song The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, except if the artist is also the songwriter. There ha ...

at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

. Morris embarked on the Girl: The World Tour in support of the album.

Release and promotion

The album's lead single "

" was released on January 18, 2019, and was described as "an upbeat, optimistic single with a strutting, indie-rock guitar sound". The album's first promotional single "Common" features

and was released on February 8. The collaboration was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the

. "

" was released on February 22 as the second and final promotional single of the album. On August 16, 2019, the song was sent to radios as the second single from the album. It peaked at number 12 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, becoming Morris' highest charting solo single to date, as well as hitting number one on the

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart of February 2020, becoming Maren’s third number one for that chart. The song went on to earn a nomination for

at the

. Maren later teased fans on social media that from having another consecutive hit, that the album will be having another single. In March 2020 she released " To Hell & Back" as the third single from the album. In support of the album, Morris embarked on Girl: The World Tour, which began on March 9 and concluded on November 16, 2019.

Critical reception

''Girl'' received generally positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 66, based on 8 reviews. Melissa Novacaska from ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' said, "What's impressive about ''Girl'' though is how strong Morris's vocals have grown, along with the maturity and uniqueness of each song. It's clear that ''Girl'' isn't a sophomore slump, but rather an album worth investing in."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

called ''Girl'' "bright, shiny, and big, an album designed to appeal to any imaginable audience", noting how Morris goes for a "pan-cultural pop" soundscape that draws from different genres and delivers straightforward messages that's backed by equally strong production. He concluded by finding criticism in the album's songwriting following that musical direction, "By foregrounding her lyrical intent and offering no room for interpretation, Morris winds up with songs that feel less imaginative than their execution, a flaw that is by no means fatal but does mean that ''Girl'' plays on a smaller scale than intended." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' editor

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at ''Blen ...

felt that fans of Morris's "scrappy attitude on ''Hero''" will be oft-put by the "happy midtempo love songs" found in the album's second half but said that tracks like "All My Favorite People", "Flavor" and "Make Out with Me" will satisfy them, concluding that, "She might be on her best behavior on this LP, but the liveliest moments come when she gets out of line." Laura Snapes of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' felt the record goes for "neither gutsy grandstanding nor Vegas-adjacent pop" throughout its track listing, criticizing the "biographical sincerity ("Great Ones", "Gold Love", "Make Out with Me")" for lacking conviction and the misuse of Morris's "compellingly hardbitten voice" on songs that don't involve fractured romances, saying that Morris should take inspiration from fellow country artist

Kacey Musgraves Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American country singer. She has won six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one as Texa ...

when recording her third album.

Awards and nominations

Commercial performance

''Girl'' debuted and peaked at number four on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 46,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, of which 25,000 were pure album sales in its first week. It is Morris' second US top-five album. The album broke the record for the largest streaming week ever for a country studio album by a woman, with approximately 24 million streams in its first week. On February 26, 2020, the album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units. The album has sold 91,000 in traditional albums, and has earned at least 636,000 equivalent album units as of April 2020.

Track listing

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. Musicians * Charlie Bisharat –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Jacob Braum – cello *

busbee Michael James Ryan Busbee (June 18, 1976 – September 29, 2019), known professionally as Busbee, was an American songwriter, record producer, publisher, record label executive, and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his work in both po ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, programming, bass guitar, keyboards, piano,

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, synthesizer, electric guitar *

– duet vocals (track 5) *

Kathleen Edwards Kathleen Edwards (born July 11, 1978
) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Her 2002 debut album, ''

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

Ian Fitchuk Ian Fitchuk (born February 13, 1982) is a songwriter, music producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Early life Fitchuk was born and raised in Chicago by parents who are both accomplished classical musicians and educators. He cites Paul ...

– piano, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer, percussion *

Natalie Hemby Natalie Nicole Hemby Wrucke (born March 24, 1977) is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Kacey Musgrav ...

– background vocals (track 14) * Ryan Hurd – background vocals (tracks 3, 9, 12) *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...

– drums, percussion, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, organ,

omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...

* Songa Lee – violin * Rob Moose – violin, viola, octave viola * Maren Morris – lead vocals, background vocals *

John Osborne John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' tra ...

– electric guitar * T.J. Osborne – duet vocals (track 3) * Aaron Sterling – drums, percussion, programming * Laura Veltz – background vocals (tracks 4, 11, 12) * Patrick Warren – string arrangement (tracks 7, 13) * Derek Wells – acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

* Ben West – Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer Technical * Julian Burg – recording * busbee – producer (all tracks except 1, 5, 12), recording, mixing * Maren Morris – producer (all tracks except 1, 5, 12) * Dave Clauss – digital editing, recording, mixing * Michael Freeman – assistant engineer * Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordination * Greg Kurstin – producer (tracks 1, 5, 12), recording, mixing * Rachel Kurstin – production coordination *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

– mastering * Rob Moose – recording * Maren Morris – producer * Zack Pancoast – assistant engineer * Alex Pasco – recording * Nathan Spicer – recording *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...

– mixing * Matt Tuggle – production assistant (track 5 only) * Brian David Willis – digital editing Imagery * Marwa Bashir – hair *

Samuel Burgess-Johnson Samuel Burgess-Johnson is an English art director, graphic designer and photographer based in Los Angeles, known for working with musical artists such as The 1975, Tove Lo, Wolf Alice and No Rome. Career Samuel Burgess-Johnson moved to Melbour ...

– Maren Morris font design * Joseph Cassell – styling * Tracy Fleaner – creative director * Nicki Fletcher – cover design * Jamie Nelson – photography * Lorrie Turk – makeup

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Maren Morris albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by busbee