What’s Up With “Espresso,” a Mysterious New Song Shared by Maren Morris?

Shortly after this text was revealed, “Espresso” was faraway from Apple Music. Nonetheless, the music stays on YouTube.

Maren Morris has been one thing of a chameleon since rising in 2016 with the R&B-tinged nation of her major-label debut, Hero. The Arlington-born star veered into full-on dance-pop in 2018 with the one “The Center,” a collaboration with producer Zedd and digital music duo Gray, then introduced that sound again along with her to Nashville by inflecting her sophomore album, Lady, with a pop-country vibe in 2019. Later that yr, she went rootsy, teaming up with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires for the Americana supergroup the Highwomen. As a lot of the world was rising from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, she filtered a robust nation aesthetic by way of a nineties Lilith Truthful lens, channeling Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette on her third album, Humble Quest. In the case of self-reinvention, if she’s not fairly David Bowie, she’s confirmed bored with becoming right into a single field as an artist.

Nonetheless, when a mysterious new single popped up on-line below her title over the weekend, it was a little bit of a shock: inexplicably titled “Espresso,” the brand new music sounds not like something Morris has ever launched earlier than. Dropping into the world with out a lot as a press launch, the report artwork incorporates a lady with inexperienced hair who appears nothing like Morris, the phrase “GIRL” showing in a daring, sans serif font emblazoned over her physique. It’s filled with orchestral sounds and hovering, Florence Welch–esque vocals, with excessive drama drums and a complete friggin’ choir.

Take a hear under, after which let’s get into the questions.

Query 1: Is that this actually Maren Morris? 

To be clear: the music was posted to Maren Morris’s YouTube channel and seems on her web page on Apple Music and Tidal. (It’s not on Spotify, nevertheless it’s not unparalleled for official releases to look on one streamer earlier than one other.) If it’s not Morris, someone screwed up someplace alongside the best way. However given how a lot of a deviation that is from Morris’s present physique of labor—even by the requirements of somebody who appears to get pleasure from reinventing herself often—it’s value double-checking.

We reached out to each Morris’s label and her publicist on Monday morning to substantiate Morris launched the music, however we didn’t obtain a response by publication. If this is a brand new course Morris is embarking on with the intention of constructing intrigue round a spooky sound, we wouldn’t count on one anytime quickly. Then again, if it was a mistake or a metadata error—say whoever was liable for inputting the artist info on the monitor had an auto-complete mix-up that populated Morris’s title on one other artist’s music—the problem has gone uncorrected for greater than 24 hours, which is an eternity in PR time.

Query 2: Why is the music referred to as “Espresso”? 

One of many extra ubiquitous singles of the summer time is Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” a pleasantly poppy bop about how the singer, like a caffeinated beverage, retains a smitten fella up all night time desirous about her. Cute! Releasing a music by the identical title whereas that one remains to be close to the highest of the charts can be a curious alternative. But it surely’s even weirder, as a result of the music revealed on Morris’s channel has extra of an ethereal, Gothic really feel than a “consuming espresso and staying up late” vibe.

The “Espresso” that bears Morris’s title must be referred to as one thing like “Arwen’s Lament” or “The Siege of New Phyrexia.” It ought to play over a film trailer through which a military in chain mail expenses up a hill swinging swords over their heads to tackle a regiment of goblins. It sounds extra like one thing out of Recreation of Thrones than the precise music Morris recorded for the official Recreation of Thrones–impressed album.

Query 3: Simply what’s Maren Morris as much as? 

The final single Morris introduced and personally promoted was a canopy, launched in February, of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” It’s good! She slows it down and finds slightly extra disappointment than Idol put within the unique. The monitor additionally suits in with what we all know Morris does musically—it’s bought a particular viewpoint however is a mainstream pop music that is smart on first hear.