I want to tell country music in my way, where it feels like you leave the show and you feel like you went to the theater. I'm so moved by shows that are everything from stripped-down guitar and vocals to really thought out emotional thinkpieces. At the time in my mind, I was like, “How do I get to there? I think this song is going to help.”

There's this strategic part of me, but no move is made without my heart really being in the song. And it's so funny, because these Grammy nominations this year are wonderful and random at the same moment, because I haven't released an album in the last couple of years, and everything I was nominated for felt like all my risks this past year have been validated.

I had a conversation earlier today about Ariana Grande and how she released Sweetener, and then weeks later released "thank u, next,” and then "7 Rings," which is gigantic. In six months she's about to put out two full albums. I was just thinking about how it's so hard for terrestrial radio to catch up with the creativity of an artist, and the consumption their fans devour their music. I was thinking about myself in those terms. I don't think I could churn stuff out that quick, but I do get distracted easily. That's just the spirit of me.

I love my first album but also want to take leaps and bounds and do things that are weird and maybe not the middle-of-the-road path kind of choices. Obviously, she's one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, and an amazing songwriter and human being. But she can't be bound by timelines, and her art can't be either. I really like that mentality going forward, 'cause I think that's where the future is headed.

Ariana said that she wants to release music like men are “allowed” to, at her own pace, whenever she wants. It’s what her fans want, and it shows how out of touch the industry is in terms of what’s actually working for artists these days.

Fans already dictate streams. They’re the consumers, and I hate using industry terms like that. But the people that are actually absorbing that music, they do it so quickly, and it doesn't mean that they lose interest in it. They still love it. But she kind of blasted that whole paradigm into pieces by releasing two full albums, because all the naysayers that hate streaming and hate single, single, single, they're like, "What happened to albums?" Well, Ariana just put out two in six months with giant-ass singles at the same time.

I get so fed up with the marketing plan. The words I was hearing were like, "You can't put your single out and then put the album out like six weeks later. That's insane. We need to reach critical mass with the single before you release the album." And I was just like, “Lis-ten. I don't know anything about what you're saying, I just know that I haven't put an album out in three years. My fans are gonna kill me if I do one more feature.” I was the most played female in country radio last year, and "The Middle" was number one for like 27 weeks or whatever on the dance chart. I was like, could we call that critical mass and just put the damn song out?

I remember talking to the head of radio promotions at Sony, Steve Hodges, when I first played them this song. I said, "Okay, I've never consulted about a single, but I really love this. Does this have a shot in hell at country radio? Just sonically, because it is very different sounding—it doesn't sound like anything else I can compare it to, which is a good thing, but is it too left of center?" And Steve, who's always honest with me—he's never lied to me—just said, "Maren, each one of your singles has been bucking the trend of the sound of radio at the moment. And it hadn't sounded like anything else, and it moves the sound forward. Why would you change that now on this one? Why attempt to water the weirdness out now?"

Did that ambition, that desire to carve your own path and make your own story, play any part in how you went into writing and recording GIRL?

It definitely did. I kind of look back at the history of the women I've looked up to in country music and I think to myself, like, is what I'm doing that rebellious? Because I look at Shania Twain, and how she would play with sounds and genres, and they were huge. And what she would wear on stage. I mean she was vilified even then for looking “too pop.” But that was like 20 years ago. The adage is always, "Oh it used to be so wholesome." I'm like, have you seen what Dolly used to wear? Or Loretta Lynn singing about the pill? And then I think about the Dixie Chicks, and "Goodbye Earl", where they killed a guy in a song. But it was funny. They made it smart and clever at the same time, and it was about domestic abuse. Like being able to laugh at life's horrible situations. Things like that, those were really pushing the envelope.