Megan Moroney’s ‘Authentic’ Songwriting Takes Her To The Top

Megan Moroney has scored a number-one song with her first release, a very rare feat. It's a song she co-wrote, "Tennessee Orange." What's even more interesting is that she didn't start writing songs until just a few years ago. She told us in a recent interview, "Well, I wrote my first song when I was 19. And then I didn't really start consistently writing until 2020. Usually, when I go into a writer's room, I bring the idea because we're writing for me. So other writers usually like the artists to like, kind of know what they want to write about. I try to come up with the ideas, and they're really based on personal experiences. "

She added, "I think because no one taught me how to write songs. It just is authentic. When I go into a writer's room. I'm not trying to write the next hit. I'm just writing what is relevant to my life and making it as good as possible. I don't put pressure on myself when I'm songwriting either, like if I go into the room and we don't get a good one, I'm like, Oh, well. "

During another interview, Megan told us that the video for "Tennessee Orange" would never have happened without her mom. She told us, "I gotta brag on my mom for the 'Tennessee Orange' music video. She is the reason that could happen. We did the video after Christmas, and that is when all the flights got canceled, so my flight from Savannah, Georgia, to Nashville, kept getting delayed until nine thirty PM. It's nine-thirty PM in Savannah, and I need to be in Nashville at 7:30 AM to start getting my hair and makeup done for the music video."

She added, "And it wasn't one of the things where we could just postpone it because the crew had flown in, and there's way too much on the table here, and I needed to be in Nashville."

Moroney said she was saved by her mom, telling us, "So, my mom, without question, picked me up from the airport and was like, 'Well, I'm driving you to Nashville.' We drove like eight hours, nine hours through the night, and I ended up making it there on time. I sent her flowers when she got home because I knew that was a horrible thing to have to do. But, yeah, my mom is the best ever."

Megan Moroney's debut radio single "Tennesee Orange" has become her first hit, now sitting in the Top ten on the country charts this week and is moving north. The song's video even won Megan her first CMT Music Award in April (4/2) in the "Breakthrough Female Artist category," an award that Taylor Swift won back in 2007 for her video, "Tim McGraw." Moroney was thrilled with her first honor, calling winning the award surreal.

On May 5, Megan's debut album, Lucky, was released, featuring "Tennesee Orange." Moroney told us in a recent interview, "I've wanted to release my debut album since I moved to town. Now that it's done, I'm just so proud of the songs. I've been working on it for a lot longer than people think I have been."

One song that stands out in the new work is a song she co-wrote called "I'm Not Pretty." Megan shared with us how the song came about, "I kind of tell the story of 'I'm Not Pretty' in the song. It was 2 am, and one of my ex-boyfriend's new girlfriends accidentally liked one of my photos from 2016 in Panama City. It's still on my Instagram. You can go look for it."

She added, "I think I just took a situation that had happened and that I thought I was like a little bit funny, and I turned it into a song, and it's light-hearted and not supposed to be too serious, but that's a funny one. "

As Moroney's star starts to rise in country music, we take a look at the last couple of years she has enjoyed in the spotlight of Nashville and beyond.