Photo: Getty Images, Cece Dawson
Megan Moroney’s hotly-anticipated sophomore album has arrived.
The Georgia-born singer-songwriter said in the hours ahead of the record’s debut on Friday (July 12) that people often told her that her sophomore project “would be the hardest to write,” following her powerful debut, Lucky, last year. However, Moroney said she stuck to the songwriting process she knows, allowing herself to delve into her emotions “deeply and unapologetically,” and channel it into her songwriting. The result was a collection of 14 tracks that take the listener through feelings of love, heartbreak, strength, loss and friendship, Moroney said of Am I Okay? Find the full album on iHeartRadio here.
“During a crazy touring schedule, on 14 different occasions, I sat down and impulsively wrote exactly how I was feeling, whether it was right or wrong,” Moroney reflected in a handwritten note to her fans. “If Am I Okay? feels more honest and vulnerable than anything I’ve released, it’s because you guys have made me feel comfortable enough to do that. ...By the time you get to the end of the album, a valid question would be ‘omg…is she okay?’ And I just want y’all to know that with you by my side, I’ll always be just fine.”
- “Am I Okay?” (Megan Moroney, Luke Laird, Jessie Jo Dillon)
- “Third Time’s the Charm” (Megan Moroney)
- “No Caller ID” (Megan Moroney, Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, Jessie Jo Dillon)
- “Man on the Moon” (Megan Moroney, Ashley Gorley, Casey Smith, David “Messy” Mescon)
- “28th of June” (Megan Moroney, Ben Williams, Mackenzie Carpenter, Micah Carpenter)
- “Indifferent” (Megan Moroney, Ben Williams, Mackenzie Carpenter, Micah Carpenter)
- “Noah” (Megan Moroney, Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, Jessie Jo Dillon)
- “Miss Universe” (Megan Moroney, Liz Rose, AJ Pruis)
- “Mama I Lied” (Megan Moroney, Ben Williams, David “Messy” Mescon, Rob Hatch)
- “I Know You” (Megan Moroney, Ben Williams, David “Messy” Mescon, Jacob Kasher Hindlin)
- “The Girls” (Megan Moroney, Ben Williams, Mackenzie Carpenter, Micah Carpenter)
- “Heaven By Noon” (Megan Moroney, Jessie Jo Dillon, Matt Jenkins)
- “Hope You’re Happy” (Megan Moroney, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally)
- “Hell of a Show” (Megan Moroney)
Moroney’s latest album offers a blend of raw, emotional ballads and relatable, energetic anthems fit for sold-out live shows. Before she released the Kristian Bush-produced album, Moroney shared “No Caller ID,” “Man on the Moon,” “28th of June,” “Indifferent” and “Hell of a Show.” Moroney describes Am I Okay? as “Lucky’s cooler older cousin that can drink.”
“After putting Lucky out and getting to a point where my fans and I know each other so much better, I felt like I could open up and discuss things I’ve never talked about in my music before,” Moroney said in a press release issued Friday morning. “Sometimes it almost feels like oversharing, but I feel like I have a responsibility to all the people who send me DMs or talk to me at shows and tell me how my songs helped them through a breakup or a bad time in their lives. If I can write about my heartbreak and make someone else feel like there’s a way out, then of course I’m going to keep doing that. …I wanted to capture what life feels like in your 20s, where one minute you’re sad about an ex and the next you’re just having fun with your friends and couldn’t care less.
“I love how from the title you’d assume it’s a heart-wrenching song, especially since I’m the Emo Cowgirl and everyone thinks I’m so sad all the time,” Moroney said of the title track, which is the opening track for the full album. She wrote it with Luke Laird and Jessie Jo Dillon. “But really it’s about meeting someone new and realizing, ‘Oh my god, I’m not miserable anymore. He’s actually making me happy. Am I okay?’”
Am I Okay? arrives as Moroney is in the midst of her headlining “Lucky 2.0 Tour” dates with Logan Crosby, and Kenny Chesney’s headlining “Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour” with Zac Brown Band and Uncle Kracker. Moroney is also gearing up for her “Georgia Girl” headlining run in the UK and Europe. The press release notes that Moroney leaned into her self confidence and assuredness as she penned her follow-up to Lucky, which made its original debut in May 2023 and expanded as a 16-track deluxe edition in September 2023. Her smash-hit breakthrough album included “I’m Not Pretty,” “Lucky,” “Tennessee Orange,” “Girl in the Mirror,” “Traitor Joe,” “Why Johnny,” “Sleep on My Side” and other fan-favorites throughout the track list.
“Going into making this record, I was getting a lot of outside opinions on what my second album should be,” Moroney said in a statement of Am I Okay? “After a while I realized I just needed to stay true to how I started writing songs when I was 19, and then focus on making music that sonically supports the stories I’m telling. I did my best to block out all that outside noise, and just lead with honesty the whole way through.”