The album's lead single "Girl" was released on January 18, 2019, and was described as "an upbeat, optimistic single with a strutting, indie-rock guitar sound". The album's first promotional single "Common" features Brandi Carlile and was released on February 8. The collaboration was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.[10] "The Bones" was released on February 22 as the second and final promotional single of the album.[11] On August 16, 2019, the song was sent to radios as the second single from the album. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Morris' highest charting solo single to date, as well as hitting number one on the Country Airplay chart of February 2020, becoming Maren’s third number one for that chart. The song went on to earn a nomination for Best Country Song at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[8] Maren later teased fans on social media that from having another consecutive hit, that the album will be having another single. In March 2020 she released "To Hell & Back" as the third single from the album.[12]
In support of the album, Morris embarked on Girl: The World Tour, which began on March 9 and concluded on November 16, 2019.[13]
Girl received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 8 reviews.[14]
Melissa Novacaska from Exclaim! said, "What's impressive about Girl though is how strong Morris's vocals have grown, along with the maturity and uniqueness of each song. It's clear that Girl isn't a sophomore slump, but rather an album worth investing in."[16]AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Girl "bright, shiny, and big, an album designed to appeal to any imaginable audience", noting how Morris goes for a "pan-cultural pop" soundscape that draws from different genres and delivers straightforward messages that's backed by equally strong production. He concluded by finding criticism in the album's songwriting following that musical direction, "By foregrounding her lyrical intent and offering no room for interpretation, Morris winds up with songs that feel less imaginative than their execution, a flaw that is by no means fatal but does mean that Girl plays on a smaller scale than intended."[15]
Rolling Stone editor Rob Sheffield felt that fans of Morris's "scrappy attitude on Hero" will be oft-put by the "happy midtempo love songs" found in the album's second half but said that tracks like "All My Favorite People", "Flavor" and "Make Out with Me" will satisfy them, concluding that, "She might be on her best behavior on this LP, but the liveliest moments come when she gets out of line."[20] Laura Snapes of The Guardian felt the record goes for "neither gutsy grandstanding nor Vegas-adjacent pop" throughout its track listing, criticizing the "biographical sincerity ("Great Ones", "Gold Love", "Make Out with Me")" for lacking conviction and the misuse of Morris's "compellingly hardbitten voice" on songs that don't involve fractured romances, saying that Morris should take inspiration from fellow country artist Kacey Musgraves when recording her third album.[17]
Awards and nominations
Awards and nominations for GIRL
Year
Organization
Category
Result
2019
Country Music Association Awards
Album of the Year
Won
2020
Academy of Country Music Awards
Album of the Year
Nominated
Billboard Music Awards
Top Country Album
Nominated
Commercial performance
Girl debuted and peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 with 46,000 album-equivalent units, of which 25,000 were pure album sales in its first week. It is Morris' second US top-five album.[21] The album broke the record for the largest streaming week ever for a country studio album by a woman, with approximately 24 million streams in its first week.[22] On February 26, 2020, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units.[23] The album has sold 91,000 in traditional albums,[24] and has earned at least 636,000 equivalent album units as of April 2020.[25]
