TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Megan Moroney just might be the biggest star in country music right now. Her latest album, "Cloud 9," debuted at the top of both the Billboard Hot Country and Hot 100 charts, solidifying her crossover appeal. Moroney, who will begin her first stadium tour this summer, is attracting a younger audience than the average country star. "Cloud 9" features guests like Kacey Musgraves and Ed Sheeran on duets that rock critic Ken Tucker says demonstrate Moroney's command of country heartache.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MEDICINE")
MEGAN MORONEY: (Singing) I ain't heard from you in three long days. You won't hear from me for five. Oh, you gave your number to an LA blonde. Well, I gave your quarterback mine. And you don't like my short black dress. Well, it's going out tonight. And if it hits a floor, it won't be yours this time. Is it bitter going down, down, down? You don't like it too much - do you? - coming back around, round, round. Ain't as fun when it's happening to you. Oh, poor, poor you. Now who's the fool? Say I'm messing with your head again. Well, how you like the taste of your own medicine? Hey, don't blame me...
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Any country songwriter who can rhyme the phrase, messing with your head again, with, taste of your own medicine, is OK by me. Megan Moroney spins out tales of romantic revenge with a smooth fluency that contrasts with the raspy drawl she uses to sing them. Her album "Cloud 9" arrives as a new kind of music from big pink - pink dress and cotton-candy clouds on the cover, pink vinyl on the inside. She toys with Barbie world playfulness, only to put the hammer down on guys who disrespect her.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "6 MONTHS LATER")
MORONEY: (Singing) The, hey, Meg. I think I want you back. I'm a couple drinks in, thinking it's my bad that I let you walk away and let you go. It's a tale as old as time, I guess. When you couldn't care more, I couldn't care less. You're a little too late to the party, heartbreaker. What doesn't kill you calls you six months later
TUCKER: That's Moroney having the last laugh at a guy who treated her miserably and has now come crawling back, showcasing another killer chorus line - what doesn't kill you calls you six months later. Moroney's pop crossover and sizable young female audience is all the more impressive when you hear the way she leans into hard country ballads featuring pedal steel guitar and mandolin. And consider her duet with Ed Sheeran. No one would peg Sheeran for a country crooner, yet they trade verses on "I Only Miss You" like a latter-day George and Tammy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I ONLY MISS YOU")
ED SHEERAN: (Singing) I thought today would be the day that I finally finished sober. I'd cook a meal and go to bed without sadness in my chest, wake up with no hangover.
MORONEY: (Singing) I thought tonight would be the night I'd get a full eight hours of sleep. I'd quit leaning on the wine, wake up and feel just fine and leave you in my dreams.
MEGAN MORONEY AND ED SHEERAN: (Singing) I only miss you when I'm breathing, and my face is far from blue. I only miss you when it's raining, but this downpour outside ain't nothing new. I only miss you when I'm lonely, and these days I'm barely getting by. I only miss you when I'm drinking, and baby, I've been drinking 'cause I miss you all the time.
TUCKER: Some have criticized the quality of Moroney's voice for its husky, limited range, but I like those limitations. In the context of country music, of someone who's a songwriter first and a vocalist second, it comes across as authenticity. This can feel manufactured. And I'm mindful of the fact that she told The Los Angeles Times she was a marketing major in college and added, if this doesn't work out, I'd be just as happy working for a label on the marketing team. Well, good for her. It also suggests a hardheaded realism that can result in the tart sentiments she and Kacey Musgraves offer in "Bells & Whistles," a song in praise of difficult women.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BELLS & WHISTLES")
MORONEY: (Singing) She laughs at your jokes. She don't tell you no. You walk in half past three. She's just glad you got home. She don't put on no makeup and don't bleach her hair, and she wouldn't be caught dead in the clothes that I wear.
MEGAN MORONEY AND KACEY MUSGRAVES: (Singing) She don't get mad. She don't get mean. She lets you be right when you're wrong as can be. I know why you like her. She's sweet, and she's simple. She's like me without the bells and the whistles
KACEY MUSGRAVES: (Singing) Her heart ain't on the highway. She's steady. She's sure. She don't ask many questions. She thinks less is more. She don't come with a spotlight. She'll wait around all day long. And you don't have to worry you'll wind up in a song.
MORONEY AND MUSGRAVES: (Singing) She don't get mad.
TUCKER: I should probably mention that Moroney has a colleague galloping to prominence right behind her - Ella Langley, whose hit single "Choosin' Texas" and forthcoming album "Dandelion" promise even more examples of this fresh synthesis of hardcore country and pop. It'd be great if Megan Moroney was at the forefront of a whole new chapter in the genre.
MOSLEY: Ken Tucker reviewed Megan Moroney's latest album, "Cloud 9."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLOUD 9")
MORONEY: (Singing) Waitress asked me, is Pepsi fine? I wanted a Coke but said, it's more than all right. And the rush-hour traffic, no, it can't get to me. The TV's talking, some more bad news, and the neighbors upstairs always party till 2. But who cares? Oh, well. I woke up next to you. I'm walking on sunshine, holding your hand.
MOSLEY: Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, award-winning actor John Lithgow, still going strong at age 80. He stars with Jeff Bridges in the Hulu series "The Old Man," he'll play Dumbledore in a new HBO "Harry Potter" series and he's starring on Broadway in the play "Giant" about a troubling side of children's author Roald Dahl. I hope you can join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLOUD 9")
MORONEY: (Singing) It's a long, long way, way down, down to cloud nine.
MOSLEY: To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram - @nprfreshair. You can also watch some of our FRESH AIR interviews on YouTube.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our senior producer today is Therese Madden. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLOUD 9")
MORONEY: (Singing) Nothing else matters with your hands in my hair. I never want to leave where we are now. It's a long, long way, way down, down to cloud nine. You put the blue in my sky. I'm yours, and you're mine. Oh, what a time to be alive. I'm walking on sunshine, holding your hand. You're putting stars in my eyes like no one else can. You get me high, high, high. You give me that look...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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