Megan Moroney’s self-assured anthem “I’m Not Pretty” hits Country radio airwaves this week as the #1 most-added single with 53 first-week stations. The follow-up to her PLATINUM-certified blockbuster smash “Tennessee Orange” — a recent No. 1 hit on Country radio — “I’m Not Pretty” is the opening track to the Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records star’s widely acclaimed debut album LUCKY. Go here to stream/download LUCKY now. To celebrate the track’s runaway success, Moroney is premiering the wildly funny yet deeply affecting video for “I’m Not Pretty” today — check it out here.
Co-written by Moroney, Ben Williams, Mackenzie Carpenter, and Micah Carpenter, “I’m Not Pretty” has earned plenty of praise since premiering earlier this year, with Billboard calling it a “cheeky, defiant clapback” and MusicRow hailing it as a “clever, femme-centric ditty [that] confirms her status as a first-class, off-center, wonderfully creative Country artist.” With its swaying rhythms and swooning slide guitar, the breezy but hard-hitting track finds Moroney taking a stand against an all-too-common form of girl-on-girl crime (from the chorus: “Zooming out, zooming in, overanalyzin’/Like the queen of the mean girls’ committee/But hey, whatever helps/Keep on telling yourself/I’m not pretty”). Rooted in the Nashville-based artist’s warm and raspy vocals, the result is a perfect example of her irresistibly honest songwriting and unapologetic point of view.
“I’ve had a creative vision for the song since I wrote it and I am so excited that I was able to co-direct the music video,” Moroney explains. “I casted my best friends in real life to be in it and thought it was really important to portray the difference in the nice girls that seem to mind their own business and the mean girls who spend all of their time tearing down others. Moral of the story- nice girls always win! I hope my fans love the video and it continues to become the empowering anthem it is.”
“Being able to work side by side with Megan and having her co-direct with me was seriously so much fun,” says “I’m Not Pretty” co-director, Jeff Johnson. “From the initial concept, to building a treatment, acting in it, performing in it, editing and sitting in on our color session, Megan was a part of this video every step of the way. She saw it through from start to finish which I really loved. We both aimed to make this video funny, clever and quirky that her fans can have fun with and laugh while watching it.”
Directed by Moroney and Jeff Johnson (Lainey Wilson, Carrie Underwood), the video for “I’m Not Pretty” stars Moroney in a dual role as the song’s protagonist and the jealousy-crazed mean girl intent on taking her down. After opening on an outdoor party where the antagonist becomes consumed with envy — her eyes ominously reflecting the campfire’s flames — the visual veers back-and-forth between the two characters’ vastly different lives. From the rosé-soaked slumber party and impossibly perfect cakes of Moroney’s pretty-in-pink universe to the dark and dreary world of her nemesis, “I’m Not Pretty” offers up a fantastically tongue-in-cheek portrait of mean-girl behavior and all its pointless toxicity.
Released in May, LUCKY quickly landed on Rolling Stone’s “The Best Albums of 2023 So Far” list, drew raves from major outlets like People (who stated that the LP “promises 13 tracks all with the potential to be hits in their own right”), and shot to the Top 10 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart. With its up-close look at all the major wins and losses of her life at age 25, the Georgia native’s debut also includes “Tennessee Orange” — a viral hit that amassed more than a million streams within just five days of its September premiere (when Moroney was still unsigned) and later climbed to No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. To date, Moroney’s breakout success has also led to such triumphs as winning BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR at the 2023 CMT Music Awards for “Tennessee Orange” and making history as the fifth solo Country female artist ever to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. Also just announced, Moroney earns three nominations for the 35th Annual MusicRow Awards for BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST-WRITER OF THE YEAR, BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST OF THE YEAR, and SONG OF THE YEAR for her first No. 1 single, “Tennessee Orange.”
Fresh off her tour as support for Country icons Brooks & Dunn, Moroney will take the stage at a multitude of summer festivals in the U.S. and U.K., then kick off THE LUCKY TOUR with her New York City debut at The Bowery Ballroom on September 20. With many of the venues selling out within minutes, the sold-out tour will stop at major cities and iconic venues coast-to-coast, including Moroney’s first-time appearance as an in-demand headliner in Chicago (Joe’s on Weed St.), Los Angeles (The Troubadour), New Braunfels, TX (Gruene Hall), and more. For full tour dates and ticketing information, visit www.meganmoroney.com/
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PHOTO CREDIT: JEFF JOHNSON
ABOUT MEGAN MORONEY:
A Country newcomer with massive staying power, Megan Moroney is strong-minded, sensitive, and fiercely devoted to speaking her truth. As a teenager in Georgia, she first honed her gorgeously gritty vocal style by singing covers with her dad and brother, then took up guitar at age 16. Although she started off studying accounting at the University of Georgia, Moroney’s entire trajectory changed after opening for Chase Rice at the famed Georgia Theatre her freshman year — a turn of events that found her penning her first-ever original song and discovering the dazzling specificity and down-to-earth honesty that now define her music. In July 2022 she offered a first glimpse at the full-force personality of her songwriting with the Pistol Made of Roses EP, inspiring CMT to praise her as a “musical risk taker with powerhouse pipes.” As her career gained unstoppable momentum, she next delivered her breakout single “Tennessee Orange”: an immediate smash that soon led to her signing with Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records, in addition to notching her first No. 1 at Country radio and earning RIAA PLATINUM certification. Named a “2023 Artist to Watch” by the likes of Amazon Music, Pandora, and Spotify, as well as an iHeart “On The Verge” Artist and one of CMT’s Next Women of Country for 2023, Moroney released her debut album LUCKY in May and quickly drew major acclaim for the lived-in intimacy, fearless truth-telling, electrifying impact of her songwriting. With her avalanche of accolades including winning Breakthrough Female Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards, she made her debut appearance on NBC’s TODAY and kicked off her first headline run with the sold-out PISTOL MADE OF ROSES TOUR. After opening for Country legends Brooks & Dunn this summer, Moroney will embark on her sold-out THE LUCKY TOUR this fall and bring her magnetic live show to iconic venues across the U.S. — all while continuing a meteoric rise that now includes over 480 MILLION total global streams to date.
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