Megan Moroney Visits Variety’s CMA Awards Interview Lounge to Talk ‘Six Months Later’ and Going Pink for Her Third Album
Megan Moroney is going into the 2025 CMA Awards tied with a leading six nominations, and that is a numeral that’s working for her, since she will be using the telecast to perform “6 Months Later,” the leadoff single from the album she’s promised for early next year.
The country star discussed that single; another one that has just been released, “Beautiful Things”; and the impending third album they’re taken from, “Cloud 9”; and that record’s marked change in color-coding when she stopped by the 2025 Variety CMA Awards Interview Lounge, as the inaugural guest for the video series. The lounge is presented by Duke Cannon and took over Nashville’s hot Anzie Blue space.
Moroney took home new artist of the year in 2024, but has a shot at a greater haul for 2025. The six nods, in any case, already stand as a sort of official coronation by the industry in her still-young career.
“I’m so excited for this year’s awards,” Moroney told the Variety Lounge’s cameras. “It feels different this time because I got my first album of the year nomination [for “Am I Okay?,” her sophomore release]. I think I’m most excited about that and song of the year because I think those nominations also highlight my collaborators that I work with. My producer gets recognized for that along with my co-writers, and I know that I wouldn’t be here without them, so it feels like a big celebration for the whole team.”
Her performance of “6 Months Later” on the ABC telecast (which will be available starting the next day on Hulu) will mark a transition from her “blue” period — the unofficial color of “Am I Okay?” — tp a different shade of OK.
“It”s gonna be kind of a mini-reflection of the music video. We’re kind of recreating that as best we can in about three minutes in one set, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun. Maybe some outfit changes. It’s very, very pink,” she warned.
“Surprise — the album’s pink,” she declared. “I’m leaving no questions — head to toe in pink. I kind of started that with ‘Lucky’ [her debut from 2023]. It was not on purpose at first, but on the Lucky Tour, I realized everyone was showing up in head-to-toe green. So for the next album, ‘Am I Okay?,’ I really leaned into it [with blue] — and of course I’ve leaned into it again with ‘Cloud Nine.’ I chose pink because I think there is a softness about this music that isn’t in my other albums. And I think it’s come from the confidence that I have now. It’s about falling in love and falling out of love, but when you’re truly confident, it’s not the end of the world when it doesn’t work out, you know what I mean? And my other albums, maybe I perceived it as the end of the world. Now this new music is just more carefree and confident. So I thought pink was a perfect color to feel empowering and confident, but also soft, and that’s what the new music is like.”
Don’t expect pure positivity from the new collection. “There’s definitely still some heartbreakers on the album, because I’ll never abandon the emo cowgirl thing. Writing sad songs is so easy for me, for whatever reason. But I will say that, even in the sad songs, it didn’t not work out because I allowed them to treat me poorly. It didn’t work out because I cut things off,” she clarifies, just in case anyone take the vulnerability of the songs to suggest she lacked agency in the situations described. “It’s still sad when you have to end things, and it’s still devastating, But even in the saddest songs, there’s so much hope and confidence that it’s gonna be OK, which is definitely a new theme that I explored in this album. I think it just comes from maybe getting a little bit older and knowing who I am and just natural confidence that keeps growing.”
She was she describes what she considers her emotional growth curb, it may be hard to remember she is about to release her third album not much more than two years after releasing the first (not counting deluxe editions). “I swear songwriting makes me into who I am, and it’s really cool to have these snapshots of my emotions in time. I even think the girl that wrote ‘Girl in the Mirror’ couldn’t have written ‘Beautiful Things.’ Because in ‘Beautiful Things,’ not only do I know I’m worth it, I feel qualified to tell other people that they’re worth it too. And I think that’s just a really cool, natural way to see the growth of just who I am and who I’m becoming…
“It took me a long time and a lot of experiences and a lot of the same being ‘the girl in the mirror’ so many times to be like, ‘I don’t have to be like this when I know someone’s not right for me. I don’t have to drag it out for a year and a half and see if they’ll change. As soon as I know I deserve better, I can get out.’ And ‘Beautiful Things’ was inspired by that feeling because I’m like: I think it’s OK, too, to realize it sucks that it didn’t work out and it sucks that they’re not the person that I want them to be.”
She’s owning “the confidence to know that you’re gonna be OK, that there’s so many other fish in the sea — so many species! ‘You’re gonna be all right’ — those are some of my favorite lyrics in ‘Beautiful Things,’ even though they’re so simple. I wrote it for my niece, for when she gets older and needs the song. I believe in having someone tell you it’s gonna be OK, so you trust their advice. I think that it’s a really powerful song and message.”
“WIth ‘6 Months Later,’ I can acknowledge how much it hurt dramatically.” Or a bit comedically, at the same time. “I say, ‘Outta six feet deep, I was five / Pretty sure they held called a hearse outside.’ I’m acknowledging that I’m being dramatic, but it’s also acknowledging the pain that was real. And then the chorus goes into the fun, like ‘What doesn’t kill you six months later’ — like, they always come back, so don’t even worry about it. And I t know that I’m a role model to a lot of young men and women, and so I like to have that kind of empowering song, like I always gravitated towards, you know, songs that made me feel like I was gonna get through the situation or that I didn’t need the person that was treating me badly. I always loved those kind of songs. So now to be able to write them and include them on albums, it’s just really fun for me and I get a lot of messages about my songs and how they help people. That’s probably my favorite part of the job.”
The country star discussed that single; another one that has just been released, “Beautiful Things”; and the impending third album they’re taken from, “Cloud 9”; and that record’s marked change in color-coding when she stopped by the 2025 Variety CMA Awards Interview Lounge, as the inaugural guest for the video series. The lounge is presented by Duke Cannon and took over Nashville’s hot Anzie Blue space.
Moroney took home new artist of the year in 2024, but has a shot at a greater haul for 2025. The six nods, in any case, already stand as a sort of official coronation by the industry in her still-young career.
“I’m so excited for this year’s awards,” Moroney told the Variety Lounge’s cameras. “It feels different this time because I got my first album of the year nomination [for “Am I Okay?,” her sophomore release]. I think I’m most excited about that and song of the year because I think those nominations also highlight my collaborators that I work with. My producer gets recognized for that along with my co-writers, and I know that I wouldn’t be here without them, so it feels like a big celebration for the whole team.”
Her performance of “6 Months Later” on the ABC telecast (which will be available starting the next day on Hulu) will mark a transition from her “blue” period — the unofficial color of “Am I Okay?” — tp a different shade of OK.
“It”s gonna be kind of a mini-reflection of the music video. We’re kind of recreating that as best we can in about three minutes in one set, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun. Maybe some outfit changes. It’s very, very pink,” she warned.
“Surprise — the album’s pink,” she declared. “I’m leaving no questions — head to toe in pink. I kind of started that with ‘Lucky’ [her debut from 2023]. It was not on purpose at first, but on the Lucky Tour, I realized everyone was showing up in head-to-toe green. So for the next album, ‘Am I Okay?,’ I really leaned into it [with blue] — and of course I’ve leaned into it again with ‘Cloud Nine.’ I chose pink because I think there is a softness about this music that isn’t in my other albums. And I think it’s come from the confidence that I have now. It’s about falling in love and falling out of love, but when you’re truly confident, it’s not the end of the world when it doesn’t work out, you know what I mean? And my other albums, maybe I perceived it as the end of the world. Now this new music is just more carefree and confident. So I thought pink was a perfect color to feel empowering and confident, but also soft, and that’s what the new music is like.”
Don’t expect pure positivity from the new collection. “There’s definitely still some heartbreakers on the album, because I’ll never abandon the emo cowgirl thing. Writing sad songs is so easy for me, for whatever reason. But I will say that, even in the sad songs, it didn’t not work out because I allowed them to treat me poorly. It didn’t work out because I cut things off,” she clarifies, just in case anyone take the vulnerability of the songs to suggest she lacked agency in the situations described. “It’s still sad when you have to end things, and it’s still devastating, But even in the saddest songs, there’s so much hope and confidence that it’s gonna be OK, which is definitely a new theme that I explored in this album. I think it just comes from maybe getting a little bit older and knowing who I am and just natural confidence that keeps growing.”
She was she describes what she considers her emotional growth curb, it may be hard to remember she is about to release her third album not much more than two years after releasing the first (not counting deluxe editions). “I swear songwriting makes me into who I am, and it’s really cool to have these snapshots of my emotions in time. I even think the girl that wrote ‘Girl in the Mirror’ couldn’t have written ‘Beautiful Things.’ Because in ‘Beautiful Things,’ not only do I know I’m worth it, I feel qualified to tell other people that they’re worth it too. And I think that’s just a really cool, natural way to see the growth of just who I am and who I’m becoming…
“It took me a long time and a lot of experiences and a lot of the same being ‘the girl in the mirror’ so many times to be like, ‘I don’t have to be like this when I know someone’s not right for me. I don’t have to drag it out for a year and a half and see if they’ll change. As soon as I know I deserve better, I can get out.’ And ‘Beautiful Things’ was inspired by that feeling because I’m like: I think it’s OK, too, to realize it sucks that it didn’t work out and it sucks that they’re not the person that I want them to be.”
She’s owning “the confidence to know that you’re gonna be OK, that there’s so many other fish in the sea — so many species! ‘You’re gonna be all right’ — those are some of my favorite lyrics in ‘Beautiful Things,’ even though they’re so simple. I wrote it for my niece, for when she gets older and needs the song. I believe in having someone tell you it’s gonna be OK, so you trust their advice. I think that it’s a really powerful song and message.”
“WIth ‘6 Months Later,’ I can acknowledge how much it hurt dramatically.” Or a bit comedically, at the same time. “I say, ‘Outta six feet deep, I was five / Pretty sure they held called a hearse outside.’ I’m acknowledging that I’m being dramatic, but it’s also acknowledging the pain that was real. And then the chorus goes into the fun, like ‘What doesn’t kill you six months later’ — like, they always come back, so don’t even worry about it. And I t know that I’m a role model to a lot of young men and women, and so I like to have that kind of empowering song, like I always gravitated towards, you know, songs that made me feel like I was gonna get through the situation or that I didn’t need the person that was treating me badly. I always loved those kind of songs. So now to be able to write them and include them on albums, it’s just really fun for me and I get a lot of messages about my songs and how they help people. That’s probably my favorite part of the job.”