The confessional new song is a bittersweet snapshot of life on the road
With her new album just around the corner, Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records singer/songwriter Megan Moroney shares her new song “Hell of a Show.” A stripped-back heartbreaker written entirely by Moroney, “Hell of a Show” serves as the closing track to the Emo Cowgirl’s massively anticipated sophomore LP Am I Okay?, due out on Friday, July 12th.
One of the most emotionally raw tracks on the project, “Hell of a Show” ends the album on a moment of tender introspection as Moroney opens up about one of the more surreal and painful aspects of fame.
“That song started as a poem, which I’d never done before,” Moroney reveals. “I wrote it by myself on the back of the bus, thinking about how all these unbelievable things were happening and I couldn’t even be happy because some guy was ruining it for me. Even if my fans haven’t had the experience of being a performer, I think they’ll relate to faking a smile to try to make it through when someone else is getting in the way of what should be a happy moment.”
While much of Am I Okay? embodies a lush and luminous form of country, “Hell of a Show” centers on a stark arrangement of Moroney’s aching vocals and moody acoustic guitar work (the song’s sole instrumentation). With an intimacy that cuts right to the heart, the track sets her inner monologue to a beautifully bittersweet melody (from the first verse: “It’s everything I’ve wanted, I’m lucky as can be/And I’m on stage in 20, and he’s so damn mean to me”). After attempting to rally and push away her heartache, Moroney closes out with a bit of devastating confession: “I guess you could say I put on a hell of a show/’Cause I’ll smile and I’ll sing and I’ll wave and repeat/And tonight I’ll cry myself to sleep.”
The follow-up to the recently released “Man on the Moon,” “Hell of a Show” arrives as Moroney graces the cover of the July issue of Nashville Lifestyles.
As she continues her run as support for Kenny Chesney’s Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour, Moroney is now gearing up to take the stage for the ABC’s Good Morning America Summer Concert Series. As part of the celebrated series (also featuring the likes of Carrie Underwood, Green Day, and Kane Brown), she’ll perform live in GMA’s Times Square studio on August 30th.
One of the most eagerly awaited albums of 2024, Am I Okay? also features standouts like “No Caller ID” (a January release that set the record for the biggest country female song debut in streams in the US, racking up 8.4 million global streams in its first week alone), “28th of June” (a heart-melting piano ballad about the pain of honoring a would-be anniversary), and “Indifferent” (a larger-than-life anthem that captures the pure thrill of realizing you’ve finally gotten over your ex). Produced by Moroney’s frequent collaborator Kristian Bush, Am I Okay? expands on the gorgeously crafted sound and lived-in songwriting of Lucky — a critically acclaimed LP featuring smash hits like two-time platinum, No. 1 breakout single “Tennessee Orange” and chart-rising country radio single “I’m Not Pretty.”
