Dreamsicle by Maren Morris | Album Review

The seventh album from the country-pop songstress explores the depth of her feelings regarding her recent divorce.

A lot has changed for country-pop star Maren Morris since I reviewed her sixth album Humble Quest three years ago.

Back in 2022, it looked like she was living the good life, at the zenith of her career to that point, and married to fellow country singer Ryan Hurd, the subject of adorable love songs like “Tall Guys.” Now, she’s a freshly divorced single mom, looking to take her life and career in a new direction, and she does just that with her seventh album Dreamsicle.

Over 13 tracks, Morris explores the depth of her heartbreak and the waves of emotion that come from something as charged as divorce. She also plays with a few new genres, branching even further away from her Nashville roots.

That said, Dreamsicle starts firmly in that country-pop style Morris became known for with “Lemonade,” and it’s one of the strongest songs she’s penned in this style. Catchy melodies lace every second of this song, and the titular metaphor in the chorus perfectly encapsulates her feelings pre-divorce:

I'm so sick of lemonade

All this squeeze ain't worth the juice

Pour some sugar over me

Still not sweet еnough for you

Got a lot of shit to say

Even more you nevеr do

Tell me, what's it gonna take

To make a good thing out of you?

In that same musical vein, “I Hope I Never Fall In Love” has one of the best choruses Morris has written to date, showing off the higher end of her belting register, appropriate for the huge emotions loaded in the song’s title. It’s hard for me not to sing along with this one.

Songs like “People Still Show Up,” on the other hand, see Morris push her sound in a different direction. The sound is more stripped back, often just bass and percussion, and she mixes in a gospel choir as we approach the end of the song. Plus, the wild bass glissandos at the start grab my ear every time.

But maybe the biggest surprise is the racy “Push Me Over,” directly expressing her bisexuality for the first time since coming out last year. And in typical country fashion, she does it through some supremely cheeky metaphors about sitting on fences. But the track isn’t just country, as indie pop trio MUNA produced this song, throwing in an 80s dance flair.

After this point, however, Dreamsicle loses me a bit. The last five tracks mostly stay in her country lane, with a tinge of gospel on songs like “Carry Me Through.” None of them are bad songs per se, and the lyrics of “Grand Bouquet” are gorgeously written with vivid details, but I don’t see myself returning to these tracks beyond this review.

Fortunately, the first half of the album more than makes up for these shortcomings, and displays Morris’ immense talent for melody and lyric writing, even during this tumultuous time in her life. Let’s see how different her life is in a couple years when her next LP comes out.

Production: 7/10

Lyrics: 8/10

Songwriting: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

Favorites: Lemonade, I Hope I Never Fall In Love, Push Me Over

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Thank you for reading! What did you think of this album? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and recommendations.