Country music’s self-proclaimed “emo cowgirl” Megan Moroney gave fans a healthy serving of angst with the release of her third studio album, Cloud 9 (2026). While her tried-and-true blend of slow-building rock and teenage pop continues to please her fanbase, her failure to evolve artistically risks an ever-shortening fuse.
As Moroney begins to solidify herself as a familiar pillar of the country music scene, her success is fittingly portrayed by the record’s cover art, showing the singer ascending a heavenly ladder through a baby pink cloudscape. In a TikTok posted in February 2025, Moroney teased the album’s lead single “6 Months Later” (2025) with a short clip of her dancing to an early version of the track captioned “just wrote this lol.” Reaching 4.6 million views, the clip inspired various iterations of trends alongside the ending line of the chorus: “What doesn’t kill you calls you 6 months later.”
Thematically, the album presents the universal hopes, fears, and tribulations of young women through a blend of Hannah-Montana-esque pop-country tracks and stripped-back, dreamy ballads. While Moroney connects with her audience through pitiful experiences with men, especially on songs like “Change of Heart” and “Stupid,” she also explores the less-relatable intricacies of stardom and intimate worries on tracks such as “Wedding Dress.”
In an uncharacteristic fourth wall break, Moroney acknowledges the pressure of the country music industry and social media criticisms on “Liars & Tigers & Bears.” Between the unappeasable demands to “be soft and not bitchy, but you better be tough” and to “Love everybody, aren’t you all friends? / Even the ones that we’ve pit you against,” Moroney expresses her champagne frustration with the conflicting standards for a woman in the industry.
On Cloud 9, Moroney builds upon her storytelling strengths to deliver a reliable and proven product for her audience; however, this comes at the cost of sounding formulaic and commercial. In a clear attempt to emulate the slow-building rage rock of her 2024 hit “Break It Right Back,” the album’s “Who Hurt You?” is another song intended to be enjoyed through a cathartic scream-singing sesh, whether at one of Moroney’s concerts or in the car at max volume. But while the new breakup ballad tunes into the infectiously angsty energy that launched Moroney into the spotlight, its stark similarity provides little incentive to listen to the new iteration over the old.
Moroney doesn’t merely stick to the script however, as she plays with rhythms and harmonic patterns reminiscent of Southern gospel music on other tracks. On “Medicine,” for instance, Moroney playfully asks her subject how their own medicine tastes, all while indulging in unapologetic joy. The track ultimately rejoices in the experience of treating someone how they’ve treated you. Throughout the track, Moroney brilliantly inverts the gender dynamics of a toxic relationship, advising her subject, “You should try crying in the shower, it’s really great.”
Uncharacteristic as well for Moroney was her inclusion featured artists on select tracks, such as Ed Sheeran and Kacey Musgraves. This is her first album release to include features, with the exception of Lucky (Deluxe), and the star power of names like Sheeran and Musgraves’ only solidify Moroney as a force in the industry. On the mellow-paced duet, “I Only Miss You (feat. Ed Sheeran),” the singers relay two perspectives of the same breakup, gently longing for each other and relying on alcohol to self medicate. Encapsulating the essence of the song is the refrain: “I only miss you when I’m drinking / And baby I’ve been drinking / ‘Cause I miss you all the time.”
Cloud 9’s other feature, “Bells & Whistles (feat. Kacey Musgraves),” harkens back to an unadorned bluegrass style that Moroney has yet to explore in depth. The Dolly Parton-esque track centers around the fixation of comparing oneself to their former partner’s new lover. The lax tempo and mild instrumentation emulate painful, yet peaceful pondering. “I know why you like her / She’s sweet and she’s simple / She’s like me without the bells and the whistles,” sing the Moroney and Musgraves in a stripped-back harmony. While the track emphasizes the shortcomings of oneself, it ultimately resolves in a self-acceptance modification to the chorus: “I’m not me without the bells and the whistles.”
With Cloud 9, Moroney sticks to what she knows, and the tracklist itself uncannily resembles the pattern of her previous album Am I Okay? (2024). On Am I Okay, Moroney kicks off the album with the title track that emphasizes her unprecedented happiness, and she ends the album with “Hell of a Show,” an unplugged track of dejection. On Cloud 9, she basically follows the same formula, beginning with the euphoric “Cloud 9” and finishing with the defeated “Waiting On the Rain.”
On Feb. 27, Moroney released an unannounced bonus track, “Sorry… I Meant Tonight.” On the song, she deviates from the satirical misandry included in songs like “Medicine”, and she bares all ego or self-respect to ask the question “And what are you doing for the rest of your life? / Oh, sorry, I meant tonight.” Although the song explores the embarrassment of infatuation, the production stays clear of reflecting restraint or hesitation. “Sorry… I Meant Tonight” is an instant bedroom-country-pop classic, infused with funky guitar plucks and a driving bass line. In her ordinary brilliance, this song showcases Moroney’s skill to present coexisting emotions alongside experiences without conflating the two, as she describes her humiliation to a peppy bedroom-pop track.
It’s crucial to recognize that, after her most recent album cycle, Moroney is no longer the underdog attempting to break into the industry; she has garnered millions of fans who all request one thing: more. In this regard, Moroney has succeeded, made most evident by the instantaneous popularity of familiar tracks like “Who Hurt You?” and “Stupid.” But although Cloud 9 checks all of the boxes for Moroney’s existing fanbase, it runs the risk of solidifying her as a one-trick pony. She’s proven to have the musicality and writing strength to survive in the industry, but her legacy depends on her ability to continue her artistic evolution and prove her artistic multitudes.
Voice’s Choices: “Medicine,” “Lions & Tigers & Bears,” “Wedding Dress”
