The True Meaning Behind Circles Around This Town By Maren Morris
Even if you're a devoted Maren Morris fan, there are still likely a few things that you don't know about the country music star. For instance, you might not have been aware of the fact that her song "Better Than We Found It" has a deeply hopeful message, or that "To Hell & Back" is a love song that was written at a time early on in a very special relationship. Of course, there's also her captivating "Circles Around This Town," which can be found on the singer's 2022 "Humble Quest" album, accompanied by an equally intriguing video.
"I could see the visuals for 'Circles Around This Town' the moment I wrote the song," Morris explained in a press release from Sony Music. She went on to say that she's "always been so inspired by the industrial, blown out colors of music videos from the 1990s," which is why she wanted "this video to reflect that grainy, devil-may-care attitude of all [her] female heroes from that era: Sheryl, Fiona, Alanis." That would be Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, and Alanis Morissette, of course, who were among the most popular women in the music scene during the 1990s, per Refinery29.
If you're wondering why Morris would be inspired to aim for a nostalgic feel for this video, the answer can actually be found in the true meaning of the song's lyrics.
It was a tough road to success for Maren Morris
Maren Morris reflects on her past in "Circles Around This Town." Morris sings in the first verse, "I swear I don't know how I trusted / A Montero with the AC busted / A couple bad demos on a burned CD / Would take me all the way to Tennessee." You may already have picked up what this tune is, in part, about thanks to the mention of a journey to Tennessee. You might understand even more when she adds, "I showed up to the new apartment / First month's, last month's, two deposits / Hadn't heard the sound of a door slam yet / Thank god I was an optimist."
Making it clear that she's referring to her time on the road before arriving at her new home, she notes that it's a good thing she had a positive outlook otherwise she might have been daunted at the hardships she faced. Morris talked about that herself in her Sony Music press release, saying that "'Circles Around This Town' is [her] story" and was inspired by her "journey from Texas to Nashville..." She also told Apple Music 1's New Music Daily (via People) that the song — which she called "probably the most specifically autobiographical song [she's] ever written" — also focused on what "led ... to me becoming an artist that I am today."
Granted, the song also reveals what things have been like for Morris now that she's found fame.
Fame isn't what Maren Morris expected
In "Circles Around This Town," Maren Morris not only looks back on her path to stardom, but she also reflects on what it's been like to find success. That's why, in the second verse, she sings, "Hung around long enough to catch a break / A couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked / Was the one about a car and the one about a church / That I wrote." We're going to go ahead and assume that she's referring to her hits "80s Mercedes" and "My Church."
As for Morris' success, she has taken home a Grammy Award, a Billboard Music Award, and multiple Academy of Country Music Awards, as well as plenty of other nominations, per IMDb. At the same time, success apparently wasn't exactly what she thought it would be. That's surely why, in the chorus of her song, she admits, "Yeah, got here but the truth is / Thought when I hit it, it'd all look different."
Fortunately for Morris, she also tells anyone listening that her goal was, "To write circles around this town / Tryna say somethin' with meanin' / Somethin' worth singin' about." We're sure her fans would say that she's done just that. Yet, Morris also notes that she's "still got the pedal down / Drivin' circles around this town," so it sounds like she still has plenty of things left to say through her music.