Special to the North Star
Country singer and popstar, Megan Moroney, released her 3rd studio album Cloud 9 on February 20th.
The rollout for Cloud 9 has been all about the color pink. Moroney first surprised fans, giving them a glimpse of the change from the royal blue and heaviness of Am I Okay? with a video teaser showing Moroney stepping up to a window in a room colored with Am I Okay?’s signature blue. The window opens up into a world full of pink, accompanied by the electric intro to “Cloud 9,” the first and title track of the album. Moroney commented on the color change in her interview with Audacy.
“I wrote a song called ‘Medicine’, and when I wrote that song, it was so pink,” said Moroney.
“Medicine” not only showcases the pink theme of the album, but also a newfound confidence in Moroney. Am I Okay? was all about insecurity within heartbreak, told with passionate lyrics and heartfelt guitar playing. Overall, Cloud 9 shows the growth from heartbreak to self-confidence, portrayed by fuller pop sounds.
In “6 Months Later” Moroney teases about a breakup, saying, “When you couldn’t care more, I couldn’t care less,” and “What doesn’t kill you calls you six months later.” Moroney clearly wants to show that life moves on and time truly heals. She finds happiness through the pain, told not only through her lyrics but also through the lively drums in the background.
“Wish I Didn’t” fortifies Moroney’s self-confidence in a way that similarly draws from the same idea in Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Please Please Please,” where both artists ask their significant other not to make them regret falling in love. Yet, Moroney hasn’t taken off with the full-blown pop sounds like Carpenter, adding her signature country mark singing, “So here I am patiently waiting/ For that other shoe, or should I say boot? To drop.”
Moroney doesn’t only use pop sounds to show off her self-assurance, though. In a slow duet with American artist Kacey Musgraves titled “Bells & Whistles,” both singers admit their insecurities about another girl who is seemingly more likable than them, saying, “She’s like me without the bells and the whistles.” Even so, the girls conclude at the end of the song that they would rather be themselves than anyone else, finishing with the lyrics “I’m not me without the bells and the whistles.”
To summarize, Cloud 9 is a perfect mix of experimentation and the familiar touches Moroney brings to her music. While the familiar themes of heartbreak with a twist of newfound self-confidence are well-done, Moroney misled fans to expect only love and cheerfulness from this album. The visuals and teasers for this album made fans expect a complete 180 from the grittiness of Am I Okay?. While this alum is definitely a step away from that, Moroney still has a long way to climb in order to reach Cloud 9.
