Megan Moroney Strikes Gold with “Lucky”

Photo by David McClister.

Megan Moroney was supposed to be an accountant. That all changed when an opportunity to open for Chase Rice at the Georgia Theatre presented itself during her freshman year at the University of Georgia in 2017.

At the time, Moroney had only ever performed cover songs in high school and at various talent shows. But when her sorority got Jon Langston to play at their philanthropy event, Megan opened for him with three covers and impressed Rice, who was in the crowd. The one condition she had to meet in order to play at the Georgia Theatre was to write a few original songs. 

Six years and one debut album, platinum certification, TODAY show performance, and CMT award later, Moroney has seemingly struck gold. It’s no wonder she decided to entitle her debut album “Lucky.”

While days off are few and far between for the twenty-five-year-old Georgia native, she manages to stay level-headed thanks to her family and friends. “I call my mom like five times a day,” Megan informs me, laughing. “Everyone around me really keeps me grounded, and I definitely need them because sometimes I feel like I’m going insane.”

Today, Moroney is best-known for writing painfully-relatable songs that are based on her own love life. From the upbeat and incredibly sassy (“I’m Not Pretty”) to the instant tear-jerkers (“Girl in the Mirror,” “Fix You Too”), there’s something for everyone amongst Moroney’s authorship.

Yet, she is a self-proclaimed non-author of love songs (see: “Sad Songs for Sad People”). Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, one of the two exceptions to this personal axiom, “Tennessee Orange,” is her biggest hit to date. Since its release in early September, the love song has garnered nearly 200 million global streams, and has obviously struck a chord with fans.

Reflecting on what it is about the song that she thinks resonates so deeply with listeners, Megan says, “Sonically, it’s a waltz and it makes you just want to fall into the song. So, it sounds like a love song and it doesn’t matter what the words are, and I think that’s one thing that draws people in.”

After its initial release, Moroney wasn’t sure whether fans would be able to look past the Georgia-Tennessee rivalry that it features so prominently. “Now, I think people are less focused on the Georgia-Tennessee thing and are more focused on the first part of the chorus, and they can relate to that in their own love stories,” she says. “I’m glad they can look past the rivalry because the song is supposed to be a love song and not a song about SEC football.”

Photo by David McClister.

When she’s not busy writing her next smash hit, Moroney is actively involved in the creative side of music artistry. She not only styles herself for her shows, album cover art, and media appearances, but she also conceived the entire concept for her debut album – title, cover art, tracklist, and all.

Writing “Lucky,” the album’s title track which Moroney proudly refers to as her “honky tonk, two-stepping song,” piqued her interest because she had never written anything like it before.

“I immediately visually had this world in my head of honky-tonkin’ and two-steppin’ in a casino, and I was just really drawn to that concept because I thought it was memorable,” she explains. “I was a marketing major in college, so the creative side of things, apart from the songwriting, really excites me. The album probably could’ve been self-titled, but I was more excited about the idea of making it a world of ‘Lucky.’”

Shot in the driveway of Nelson Drum Shop in Nashville, the album’s cover features Moroney leaning up against a slot machine. “I wanted it to be a memorable cover,” Megan shares. “It could’ve been my face and me and a guitar, or it could’ve been like anything, but I thought that me leaning up against a slot machine in the middle of a driveway was a lot cooler,” she laughs.

The “Lucky” album cover.

Part of Moroney’s huge appeal, aside from her music and admirable work ethic, is her humility. Songs like “Traitor Joe” and “Sleep on My Side” have led fans to compare Moroney to the likes of one of her personal influences: Taylor Swift. After all, both have been awarded the CMT for “Breakthrough Female Video of the Year.”

“I’m a big Swiftie,” Megan admits. “When my fans tell me that my songs get them through situations or whatever they’re facing, it’s really cool because Taylor Swift used to do the same thing for me. Growing up, “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” and “Red” helped me, and I never thought that one day I would be doing the same thing for other people. Even to just be considered somewhat in the realm of what Taylor Swift is doing is really cool to me.”

Unsurprisingly, Swift is one of Moroney’s dream song collaborators, along with Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert. “I would love to do a song with Taylor Swift, obviously, and I don’t care what kind of song it is. I would also love to do one with Chris Stapleton – even if I sang on his song “Cold,” I think that would be an incredible collab. Or like a murder song with Miranda Lambert,” she shares.

Songwriting, however, hasn’t stopped Moroney from making bad dating decisions. “Writing has definitely made me more aware of what’s going on because I feel like the first couple years of college where I wasn’t writing too much, I was just blindly dating the same guy over and over again, and I didn’t know what I was doing. But now that I’m as in touch with my feelings as I am when I’m writing a song, I can be like ‘Girl, you knew the whole time he was going to be horrible.’ So, I think songwriting has definitely helped in that way, but it hasn’t stopped me from continuing to make bad decisions. I don’t know why I always feel the need to fix people, but it’s a problem. But, I think a lot of people try to do that. Hopefully I’ll get better at it, but that hasn’t happened yet,” she confesses with a laugh.

Amidst the chaotic nature of the modern dating scene, Moroney finds peace through her faith (see: “God Plays a Gibson”).

“I grew up going to church with my parents every Sunday, and I still go to church whenever I can on Sundays. But when you’re younger, it kind of feels forced because you’re like, ‘Oh, I have to wake up and dress up in the morning,’” she says. “When your parents are telling you to do something as a kid, you’re like ‘No, I don’t want to.’ But as I got older, I found that my relationship with God felt more personal and less forced, and it was like I say in the song – I can just talk to Him and feel at peace.”

One thing Moroney can definitely feel at peace about is the fact that her days spent thinking she was going to be an accountant for the rest of her life are long gone. Her recent ACM nomination for “New Female Artist of the Year,” the chart-topping success of her debut album, and the demand for tickets to her upcoming “Lucky” tour prove that she has truly struck gold.