Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Stagecoach

In an interview with the L.A. Times, Maren Morris has said that she is no longer pursuing a career in country music.

Lyrics to two songs that Maren dropped on Friday (September 15th), elude to her departure, but the singer told the Times that as a woman in country music, you are scrutinized more closely than your male peers, even when you have success. Maren says, “I didn’t think of myself as a political artist,” and added, “Music is supposed to be the voice of the oppressed — the actual oppressed. And now it’s being used as this really toxic weapon in culture wars.”

Regarding the country music format, Maren also said, “I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over, but it’s burning itself down without my help.”

Via @marenmorris Instagram

In her caption, Morris explained the 2 songs:

Part 1: “The Tree”
– I wrote this on the 10 year anniversary of my moving to Nashville. It’s about a toxic “family tree” burning itself to the ground. Halfway through, I realize it’s burning itself down without any of my help. This song evokes the pain of exhausting all your love and time for this person or “entity” but realizing it’s just a draining, transactional relationship that isn’t nourishing in any healthy way. By the end of the song, I give myself permission to face the sun, plant new seeds where it’s safer to grow and realize that sometimes there IS greener grass elsewhere.

Part 2: “Get the Hell Out of Here”
– This is the aftermath of the tree burning. Being quite literally burned out, this is a story of me feeling pulled in every direction, needing everyone else’s understanding and acceptance but my own and how self-destructive that ultimately became. I relinquish control of trying to change everyone’s mind or bad faith behavior and focus on my own power going forward. Doing the right thing can feel lonely at times, but there are more friends than foes, so I finally quit making myself one of them.