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Maren Morris got “a little shot of courage,” via one of her newest songs to come out as bisexual earlier this year.
Morris, 34, said in a new interview that writing “push me over” helped give her the confidence to share publicly that she’s bisexual. During Pride Month in June, Morris shared a few photos on Instagram following one of her shows in Phoenix, Arizona. The recently-divorced singer-songwriter stated in her caption that she’s “happy to be the B in LGBTQ+.” Morris wrote “push me over” for her new 5-track EP, Intermission, with Tobias Jesso Jr., Josette Maskin, Katie Gavin and Naomi McPherson.
“I didn't ever feel before I had the courage to say that, and it was something that I knew for decades, but I think it was just the timing of: I'm in a space to say this without anything really getting misconstrued, and it's Pride Month,” Morris told PEOPLE in a story shared on Tuesday (August 6). “I also had just felt comfortable in myself enough to write a song like 'Push Me Over.' It gave me the little shot of courage I needed, I guess.” She added to the outlet that “the support outpour was really, really encouraging and obviously so nice,” after she revealed she’s bisexual.
Morris debuted Intermission on Friday (August 2). The 5-track collection includes the previously-released duet “cut!,” with Julia Michaels. Morris previously said that song is one that “gives me permission to fall apart.” She also teased a few of the other tracks that appear on the EP before the full collection arrived on Friday: “I hope I never fall in love,” “push me over,” “because, of course,” and “this is how a woman leaves.”
The Texas-born singer-songwriter said in a video she posted on TikTok the week before she delivered Intermission that the P serves as a “diary” as she embarks on a new chapter in her life. It also features music she considers both “fun” and “heartbreaking” as she allows herself to get vulnerable, and knowing that she doesn’t “have to protect anyone anymore.”
“Calling this project Intermission was intentional. It’s obviously a lyric at the end of the song ‘cut!’ but it’s also meaning that there’s more to come,” Morris said on TikTok. “It’s a break in the act, and for me, it’s definitely an act break and new chapter of my life. And I’m so ready to see what’s on the other page, and I just am so proud of this music. It wasn’t easy to write because I’m going through a lot and this is the diary of that. But it’s also like, the most fun music as well as the most heartbreaking because I’m allowing myself to go there (and) because I don’t have to protect anyone anymore. It’s just about my feelings, so I hope you love it.”
She added on the EP’s release day that Intermission is “the distillation of the strangest year of my life. i decided to hit the scariest reset button i could have ever conceptualized and there was no looking back,” Morris wrote in a caption on Instagram. “the lengths one will go to feel joy again are sometimes desperate and terrifying as all get out, but we all deserve peace in these very short few trips around the sun. here’s my heart’s journey and gamut of emotions in 5 songs. as i weave through loss, catharsis, sexuality and gratitude, i hope you can hear the light coming back to me in these stories and somewhere, perhaps, see it mirrored back in you.”