Nashville.com Visitors Guide To Nashville, TN
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 “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 debut album LUCKY. Moroney is premiering the funny yet deeply affecting video for “I’m Not Pretty”. (watch above)
Co-written by Moroney, Ben Williams, Mackenzie Carpenter, and Micah Carpenter, “I’m Not Pretty” 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 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 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 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 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.”
