A Chat With: morgxn
I first came to know and love morgxn’s music after I heard his hit “home”— and with over 28 million streams on Spotify, it’s clear I’m not alone in my admiration for the song. In fact, Billie Eilish has even cited the track as an inspiration behind her own hit “Bad Guy.”
Photo by Emma Mead
The project of Nashville-born and based musician Morgan Isaac Karr, morgxn has experienced a whirlwind of ups and downs across the past two years. While the pandemic hit morgxn hard as a touring musician and left him unsure about his future in music, that uncertainty also fueled the vulnerability behind his viral song “WONDER.” Along with success on Tik Tok, “WONDER” has been reimagined with new versions and collaborations—including one with Sara Bareilles.
To round out the year of ups and downs, morgxn is now back on the road and about to release the MERIDIAN: vol 2 EP, which follows the first part of the Meridian project that came out in April 2021. Ahead of the new music, ANCHR caught up with morgxn to discuss his bucket list collaborations, his Tik Tok page, his creative process and more. Tune in below for the full chat.
ANCHR Magazine: Who and what would you consider to be some of your earliest influences and inspiration when it came to creating music?
morgxn: Oh wow. So I’m sitting here now in Nashville, Tennessee which is where I’m from and it’s interesting because I grew up not having a family in the music industry. I was very outside of it, and of course Nashville is like this famous music town, but to me it was just where I grew up. When I was 9, I started taking voice lessons with this guy in town who all the kids went to. Fun fact, in a totally random turn of events, Chris Young, who’s a famous country singer, he had the voice lesson time before mine. So I would go in and watch him sing, but I feel like it was a perfect example of all these kids in Nashville wanting to sing and this voice teacher, he wasn’t teaching me country or genre, he was just exposing me to all sorts of music. Not to put myself in an exact era but it was like a combination of No Doubt and Green Day, they were really popular then. I mean actually that’s popular now, but that puts me in a specific time period that I don’t want to say. But that was what culture was listening to, and this voice teacher started opening my mind to Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandros and opera music... and all sorts of different stuff. Back then we weren’t being served music on a streaming platform, it was just kind of what you came into contact with. So I feel really fortunate even though Nashville’s known as the country music capital of the world, I had a really diverse musical upbringing. It all happened out of the house though. My parents weren’t big music people, not only not in music but they didn’t listen to music, so music for me was kind of like my discovery zone.
Well I’m glad you discovered it cause you’ve made some great music so far! Speaking of great songs, Your song “Wonder” has literally been a sensation. You have the duet version with Sara Bareilles, then the whole EP with reimagined versions with Smallpools and PVRIS and more. What has that whole experience been like for you from the time you wrote the song to everywhere it has taken you since?
Wow I got chills hearing you say it back to me. I believed really deeply— Kind of connecting it to “The Way It Was,” the lyric in the song is “I believed it so deep it would happen” and kind of jumping ahead, I feel like if you are not a little sad after this last year, I’m not even sure that you’re alive or present, because it was just tough. A song like “Wonder” saying “I wonder if anyone will hear this” because I got dropped by my label, we entered lock down, and it was just a scary, scary time. There was so much unknown. I put out “Wonder” and when I say it out loud, “Wonder” is a song that came out a year ago in the middle of a global pandemic, without a label, without a team, and has 85 Million global streams, charted on iTunes, and I’ve played it on television with Grammy-award winning Sara Bareilles. It feels just as powerful and crazy to say out loud, and it’s truly a dream.
Yeah and I think people really connect with that honesty. Like you were saying you wonder if anyone will hear this, and that vulnerability, especially in such a difficult time, I feel like so many people can relate to that, no matter what they’re doing or creating.
Yeah, it was something that I feel like also people have to see that to keep going is a choice and a choice that I believe was worth making. It can get so hard and it can get so lonely and loud, but then the choice to keep going, that’s what this entire bed of music is about.
Yeah totally. Well on a more lighthearted note, since “Wonder” was so huge on Tik Tok, what’s been on your For You Page lately or what are some of your favorite Tik Tok trends?
Oh my god, let me just pull it up and be scared about what happens. Here’s a guy playing a hand drum, that sounds nice. Here’s a plus-sized guy talking about body positivity, which I am obsessed with. Growing up, I was different but there were no ways to connect with corners of the internet that made you feel less alone and terrified. So my For You Page is like hand drums, body positivity and here’s a person and his grandmother eating hot chicken sandwiches. How great.
How Wholesome!
It’s so wholesome! And hopeful!
And yeah like you said, it’s awesome that Tik Tok can connect so many people to your music, or body positivity, or other positive messages out there.
It’s also a place where I had a post go viral last week…it’s a clip of the song “The Way It Was” and for as much love as I received, I also received a ton of hate. Which is the truth about the internet. There are people out there sitting behind a screen who just want to tear you down and the song is talking about the way it was, every dream we have, we could have it, and these people took that and they were like “Well the way it was when people like you would walk down the street and we could beat you.” The thing is, I could turn around and be like you’re going to say that, and what I’m going to do is make really cute merch out of it and I’m going to raise money from the merch sales for the Trevor Project because there are kids out there who don’t have an audience to turn it around to, and get the loud support. They just see that hate without any place to turn it around to, and The Trevor Project is just an incredible place that lets people know that they’re not alone. Especially young, queer people who are just bullied by the internet. And some of these trolls, they’re not even real people behind the account. It’s sometimes bots, but that hate still gets thrown around and I just feel like I want to keep speaking up loudly for those youth who are basically me when I was a kid. It feels really important to me.
Yeah it’s terrible that people can come in and try to ruin such a positive message, but it’s great that you’re using that to fuel that towards some sort of positive outcome. Whether that be donating to the Trevor Project or just speaking up and using your platform for a positive influence. I did want to ask you more about “The Way It Was.” I was listening to it this morning, and I really liked some of the subtle nods to New Wave/80’s music with some of the synths and drum beats, and that sense of nostalgia was something I pulled out of it. Can you talk a little bit about creating the song and your mindset with that creative process?
It’s really special because this is the last song that I added to the entire Meridian project, both volume 1 and 2. It was the last song that I added, and I added it in the middle of “quarantimes.” My band and I were booked to play MTV’s Instagram Live show and we had all tested to be able to be together. We hadn't been together for a long time, we hadn’t played in a long time...That energy of just being together was emotional, and my touring keyboard player is actually the producer of the song, and my touring drummer played drums on it. We were already set up in the studio, so he added drums to it. And my touring engineer engineered that session. So it was not only am I talking about the way it was when I felt every dream was possible and I wasn’t so burdened by the weight of this year—not to quote another song from the EP, there’s a song called “Burden''— but I’m also talking about getting to play music that I love in space with people who I love. It’s not a return to normal, it’s a return to the way it was, where we get to be together.
I also want to acknowledge that returning to the way it was where every dream we could have it and that being together with loved ones is possible, but when you get comments on the internet saying like “the way it was when people like you could walk down the street, you would get beaten”… I want to acknowledge that the way it was didn’t include people like me, people of color, women—there are so many people that aren’t included in the narrative like the way it was because that’s what hate is built on. But for me, if I’m going to go back to the way it was, I’m thinking about how I’m bringing everyone along with me.
Yeah that’s great, that’s a really powerful message. Talking a little bit more about the “Meridian” project in general, the new EP for vol 2 is coming out soon. Is there anything else you can share about your creative process behind the rest of the songs on the EP or any particular songs you’re excited about?
I’m really excited for the rest of volume 2. There’s a song called “Burden” that I just mentioned and the line is “sometimes the burden is not yours to take,” and I just feel like with the weight of this whole year and the intensity and isolation, there were just moments where...It’s interesting because if you listen to old songs of mine like “Carry The Weight,” it’s saying you can carry the weight. I do believe it and I know exactly where I was when I wrote that song, but “Burden” almost feels like a response to the person, who is me, who wrote “Carry The Weight” being like sometimes, it’s not yours to carry. Sometimes, you have to shut it down and you have to pause. This year was a moment, for me, where everything shut down and everything was put on pause and everything broke. But in that, some of the most beautiful encounters came out of it. I don’t wish that so many people died, I don’t wish that we had this virus at all, it’s just that in the slow down of this year, there was a ton of beauty between me and my loved ones, in really small ways.
Yeah, just finding that subtle lightness in the dark times that we’ve often taken for granted.
Yeah, I love that. “Burden” was also the song I wrote in the wee hours between 2019 and 2020, and I was really hopeful for 2020. I was like “This is special. This is 2020 vision and Kumbaya.” In hindsight, 2020 really was special, but in low sight, 2020 was so hard and difficult and nothing like I wanted it to be. But “Burden” was birthed in those wee hours and sometimes I feel like maybe the songs just knew. There’s a song called “Citadel” that’s like “If the walls fall down in the Citadel, will I face my fears? Will I face myself?” Maybe the songs were telling me that this was going to be a monumental year.
You manifested it! Not the pandemic but the good parts!
Going back to the reimagined Wonder EP, you worked with a lot of great artists reimagining that song, is there anyone else you’d love to work with in the future?
I love collaboration. I’m built on collaboration. I love BTS, I’m just going to say that out loud. They’re so good. And Kelly Clarkson.
That would be awesome, I’d love to hear either one of those. We’re manifesting this.
And Brandi Carlile. Since we’re manifesting, I’m going there!
Would you ever try to do a full collaboration EP with different songs all collaborating with different people?
I like that idea! I’m not going to say who yet, but someone and I are talking about doing an entire EP of collabs, and I love that idea.
Hopefully we get to see that soon! Wrapping up, there’s an upcoming tour with Smallpools. Can you tease your set in a few words?
Nostalgic, soulful, and hopeful.
I love that! Anything else you want to add that you have coming up?
I’m so excited to be together on tour. Besides the Smallpools tour, I’m announcing a small run with Sofar Sounds. I’m just excited to be together!