Maren Morris has been sitting on a batch of finished mixes for the past eight months, and the world will finally get to hear them on Friday: That’s when her new album, Humble Quest, comes out.

“It feels surreal,” Maren tells ABC Audio. “It’s just going to be such a relief to put it out, because it was made during such an uncertain time. And that was a miracle in itself, being able to stay creative-minded during such a time, when we couldn’t tour.”

The singer says making the record started out as “therapeutic” and a “much-needed distraction” during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it blossomed into something she could never have expected. “It just ended up being such a happy record,” she marvels.

While there’s no song on the project that she isn’t excited to release, Maren says she’s got a couple that she’s particularly impatient to share with fans.

One, “Nervous,” already came out ahead of the full-length album. The singer loves it because it shows a different side of her musical tastes, she explains. “It’s very rock, and, like, alternative…’90s, to me,” Maren notes.

“And then ‘Good Friends’ is another [track] that I think is such a fun song about friendship,” she details. “So [I’m excited for people to hear] all of them.”

Ahead of the release day, Maren also shared Humble Quest‘s lead single, “Circles Around This Town.” The song is currently inside the top 20 at country radio.

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