Maren Morris Backtracks on Quitting Country Music, Explains She's Just Leaving Behind 'Some Facets' of the Industry

Maren Morris is clarifying the comments she made about quitting country music.

Months after her declaration, the singer explained on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she still plans to record music in the genre.

"I don't think it's something you can really leave, because it's a music that's in me and that I grew up doing," Morris, 33, explained on the Wednesday, November 8, episode. "That's the music that I write, even if I've been sort of genre fluid my whole career. You can't, like, scrub the country music out."

She admitted that her words about quitting were "very hyperbolic."

"I'm taking the good parts with me and all are welcome," the crooner explained of her future. "But, yeah, there were some, you know, facets of it that I didn't really jive with anymore. I'm a lot happier now."

While "The Bones" vocalist — who was noticeably absent from the Wednesday, November 8, CMAs — didn't elaborate on what she was leaving behind, she previously shared that she was fed up with the way the country music industry seems to brush off accusations of racism and misogyny.

"I couldn’t do this circus anymore of like feeling like l have to absorb and explain people’s bad behaviors and, you know, laugh it off," the mother-of-one explained on a podcast of wanting to make a change. "I just couldn't do that after 2020 particularly. It was just like, I've changed. A lot of things changed about me that year."

"It is so ingrained and sort of Pavlovian to just be like, 'You are not allowed to criticize this family ever,'" she confessed of being a member of the genre. "You feel like, the shock collar. Not only are you 'criticizing our way of life' — which I'm not — 'you're criticizing every fundamental belief we have. You're criticizing Jesus, you're criticizing blue collar workers, you're criticizing farmers.' Like, they will go to these lengths to justify the abuse and discrepancies that exist within the machine of what this is."

In another interview, the star said she couldn't stand next to peers that were "proud to be misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic."

"If you truly love this type of music and you start to see problems arise, it needs to be criticized," the Grammy winner told The Los Angeles Times. "Anything this popular should be scrutinized if we want to see progress. But I’ve kind of said everything I can say."

Morris has publicly condemned country musicians Morgan Wallen — who was caught on tape hurling racial slurs — and Jason Aldean, whose wife, Brittany Aldean, has been accused of making transphobic remarks.