Quotes from Maren Morris

A lot of new artists, especially girl artists, feel pressure to be so 'media perfect' and 'trained.' I'm intelligent, but I don't like hearing regurgitated answers in interviews that sound so rehearsed.

I missed being onstage behind the microphone. After a while, it was hard to hear another voice singing my lyrics.

Obviously, writing together is very intimate because it's sort of acting where you need to get to a really deep place to get the most emotional song.

I love love songs, but sometimes it's okay to just be young and talk about something other than getting married or falling in love. There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.

I feel like when I get into most rooms, melodies come really easily to me, and they sound good in my head. I never really know until I hear the song back and it's finished if it actually is good.

Being the everyman in the writing room helps a lot: you have to be a real collaborator and selfless, and not have ego when you walk in there. That's the antithesis of the artist mentality.

I would love to see Regina Spektor, Bjork, and some really cool-sounding festival bands like 'Metric' and 'The Cardigans,' who are one of my favorite bands.

The songwriting community in Nashville really is all about your talent. It's not about your image, and you have to be humble. You have to be kind. You have to have zero ego when you walk into that writing room.

Sheryl Crow. I loved her 'Tuesday Night Music Club.' She expressed her own point of view, and she wasn't trying to be like anyone else, and I loved that. That's been the thinking of all my favorite artists.

I'm not trying to dog any artist or genre, but to me, there is a lot of diversity missing from the radio. I miss turning the radio on and getting punched in the soul with a great lyric.

I think I just knew in my head there was something special about 'My Church,' and getting to accept a Grammy for it was just proof that I made the right decision.

A lot of new artists sign their deal and then go into a development stage for a year or two or sometimes never get out of it. For me, because I had been a working songwriter in town, I had a collection of songs that I was ready to make into an album. At the time, I didn't realize it was becoming an album, but it was.

I wanted to become a better songwriter, so it seemed like a no-brainer to move to Nashville, where some of the best writers in the world live.

I just love Dolly so much, and Loretta. They both are songwriters that knew what they wanted to say; they were bucking a system.

'Mr. Misunderstood' - that whole album is incredible and just has amazing songwriting.

I'm just getting back into my songwriting groove. It's still pretty early. But I don't want to make 'Hero 2.' It's going to be different.

I get a lot of my songwriting done while driving around Nashville - sometimes it comes to me that way.

I grew up listening to a lot of classic country, and I think that shows in my songwriting.

I love all types of music, and I think the genre lines are starting to get thinner every year.

I don't want to get political here, but everything I've heard out of Donald Trump is definitely, um, shocking. The fact that he's got women fans is very alarming to me, because some of the stuff that has come out of his mouth is just so awful.

I'm a '90s kid, so I loved 'NSync and the Spice Girls.

Nashville has become sort of this go-to writing city for every genre.

As a songwriter, I listen to everything to be inspired... from Rihanna to Bruno Mars to Springsteen to Johnny Cash.

Being on the stage is the one place I don't get nervous. Before the show is another story, but once I'm up there, and the first chord hits, I go to this other place. It's like a dream land.