Maren Morris Talks Being 'Genre-Fluid' and Taps Mickey Guyton, Brittney Spencer for 'The Tree' Performance

Maren Morris is opening up about her decision to leave country music.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, the "Bones" singer was asked about the significance behind her September EP The Bridge.

"I wrote these two songs, 'The Tree' and 'Get the Hell Out of Here' and I just felt like I was leaving some things in country music behind that didn't really serve me anymore," Morris, 33, told the host.

She added, "Calling it 'The Bridge' felt like the step to the next thing, whatever that is."

Fallon, 49, proceeded to asked the star if the headlines about her leaving country music for good were true.

"I don't think it's something you can really leave because it's a music that's in me and that's what I grew up doing," the "Good Friends" singer explained. "It's the music I write. Even if I've been sort of genre-fluid my whole career, you can't scrub music out. It was very hyperbolic."

The late-night host then asked, "So you're not leaving?"

"No I'm taking the good parts with me and all are welcome," Morris said. "There was some facets of it that I didn't really jive with anymore. I'm a lot happier now."

In addition to the interview, Morris took the stage for a performance of "The Tree" and she invited Mickey Guyton and Brittney Spencer to join her.

"Ooh, do you hear that?/It's the sound of a new wind blowin'/Ooh, do you feel that?/Heart lettin' go of the weight it's been holdin'," they sang. "I've made miracles in the shadows/But now that I'm out in the sun/I'll never stop growin', wherever I'm goin'/Hope I'm not the only one."

Last month, Morris appeared on an episode of The New York Times' Popcast podcast and said that she simply could not "participate in the really toxic arms" of country music in Nashville.

"I love living in Nashville, I have my family. There’s a reason why people come there from L.A. and New York to write with us. It’s because we have amazing songwriters there. That’s not gonna change," she said.

But, she added, "I couldn’t do this circus anymore — feeling like l have to absorb and explain people’s bad behaviors and laugh it off. I just couldn’t do that after 2020 particularly. I’ve changed. A lot of things changed about me that year."

She further explained that "leaving country music" was a bit of an exaggeration — but she "certainly can’t participate in a lot of it" and she's "OK just doing my own thing."

"Come with me if you please. Everyone’s welcomed," she said, adding that she drew the line by asking for her work to not be considered at country music award shows.