Megan Moroney is deep in her feels on her new album Am I Okay?, the follow-up to her breakthrough debut, Lucky, which Rolling Stone named the best country album of 2023. While that album arrived on the strength of the college-football-as-meet-cute anthem “Tennessee Orange,” Am I Okay? dispenses with any such novelties and immediately leans into 21st century angst.
Moroney has been describing herself as the “Emo Cowgirl,” lassoing a musical trend that’s been picking up steam over the last year or so. But until now, the bulk of the emo-country success has been mostly reserved for the dudes: Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Wyatt Flores have all seen their stars rise by laying their emotions bare. Moroney is happy to lead the charge for the women, with the “sad yeehaw vibes” of Kaitlin Butts and the punk country of Avery Anna right behind her.
This is an album full of references to therapy (“No Caller ID”), fears of dying alone (“Third Time’s the Charm”), and blasé resignation (“Indifferent”). There’s even a mournful goodbye ballad — the devastating “Heaven By Noon” — inspired by the death of Moroney’s uncle during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But despite its heavy heart, Am I Okay? isn’t a dour project. Moroney’s deft way around a lyric and producer Kristian Bush’s radio-ready touch combine to make this one of the most enjoyable listening experiences of the year.
Check out “Man on the Moon,” an upbeat rocker that finds Moroney wishing she could jettison an annoying suitor off into deep space. “Houston he’s a problem/He’s leaving, then he’s calling,” Moroney sings in the first line, allowing herself to mine the humor in the obstacle course that is twentysomething dating. In “Miss Universe,” which opens with shimmering “ahh-ahh” vocals reminiscent of Queen, she laments being dumped by a guy who traded up. But even that deflating loss is viewed through a prism of self-awareness: “Hell, it could’ve been worse/at least my whole world left me for Miss Universe,” Moroney shrugs, delivering the Gen Z country inverse of “You ain’t a beauty/but hey you’re alright.”
But the Georgia native isn’t entirely avoiding heartbreak on Am I Okay?. In her cheating song “I Know You,” Moroney accepts her role as the fool of an unfaithful guy running around on her whenever she’s out of town. It’s a vicious cycle and she knows it. “You’re lyin’, I’m cryin’/we do this time after time,” she sings. In another verse, she lays bare the cheater’s favorite ploy — “you say that your phone’s gonna die/then you just go put it on silent” — in a callback to the tech tricks she first shouted out in Lucky’s “I’m Not Pretty.”
The brief but powerful “Hell of a Show” closes the album by shining a light on the pain she sometimes has to hide, as Moroney details her struggle to get through a sold-out show after a man decimated her with meanness just 20 minutes prior. Even with her name up in lights, she’s destined to “cry myself to sleep” that night.
So, is Moroney ok? As her new record suggests, it depends on the moment.
Swiftiephylus amator and Swiftiephylus taylorae, two of the bugs named after Taylor Swift because of their blonde and red coloring. Courtesy of Brad Balukjian, Ph.D.