Q&A: The Exploration of Divine Self-Acceptance and Body Positivity in morgen’s Latest Single “Mom Jeans”

Q&AMusic

Jul 14

☆ BY Molly Rose Sharples ☆

CONFRONTING A REALITY THAT DICTATES THE PERSISTENT CRITIQUE OF APPEARANCE — 18-year-old singer-songwriter morgen defiantly challenges the incessant commentary imposed upon our bodies with her latest release, “Mom Jeans.” Born from the isolation and introspection associated with the lockdown period two years prior to its release, “Mom Jeans” highlights the exhaustion that so many of us feel towards the consistent scrutiny associated with our appearance. The track is illustrative of artistry that dares to directly challenge those who blatantly and shamelessly put us down as morgen also encourages us as listeners to celebrate our bodies.

Morgen encourages us to unpack and unlearn the latent codes ingrained within our societal norms that signal constant oppression and scrutiny towards how we dress, act, and embrace our flaws — imperfections, which, after all, are a lot more perfect and indeed celebratory than we are led to believe in our day-to-day lives.

Outside of the lyrical artistry behind “Mom Jeans,” morgen’s latest single is accompanied by visuals that signal self-love and body acceptance, crystallized by her own personal embodiment of colors, clothes, and collages, which are an ode to her daring confidence and creativity.

Read below to learn more about the creative process behind “Mom Jeans” and morgen’s upcoming plans for the year ahead.

LUNA: Hey morgen! First off, huge congrats on the release of “Mom Jeans”! Can you talk about the inspiration behind the song, specifically any artists that have influenced the song or any particular moments in your life that encouraged you to write it?

MORGEN: Absolutely, and thank you so much! Honestly, there were a lot of things that influenced “Mom Jeans.” Mostly, I just wanted to vent, but I was also definitely listening to artists like Still Woozy, Remi Wolf, and Payday at the time. I was in a place mentally where I was just so fed up with how many different opinions people have about the way you look, dress, and act… especially in our society now with platforms like social media. It’s really hard to figure out who you are when there are a million different people directly or indirectly telling you what to wear and how to feel — it can be very overwhelming and exhausting.

LUNA: Are there any specific feelings or emotions you would like to evoke for the listener? How do these feelings differ or relate to your own personal feelings that you had when writing the song?

MORGEN: I hope the listener feels empowered to own their body and further their journey in self-love or at least know that we’re all working through insecurities, and hopefully they can find some peace in that. As I said, when I wrote this song I was dealing with a lot of body image issues, and [I] honestly wrote the song to help myself get over those insecurities… Oddly enough, I’m a lot more confident now than I was when I wrote "Mom Jeans."

LUNA: While you say the song is used to confront the people who critique your body, “Mom Jeans” also seems to address the internal conflict you face personally within the lyrics, saying you spend “too many hours” in your “head.” What kind of message do you have for your own personal thoughts and feelings, as well as the internal conflict you and so many of us face when it comes to criticizing ourselves and our body image?

MORGEN: I’d say there’s just no use beating yourself up over the way you look. All those little details and “flaws” that you deem “ugly” or “unattractive”... nobody actually cares about, and if they do that’s their problem — they need to get a life and move on. And I know that’s a lot easier said than done but the road to true self-love is just faking it till you make it. Confidence is key, baby — own your shit.

LUNA: You mention that during the pandemic, you had a lot of time for self-discovery. How do you think this period has influenced you personally, and how does this show throughout your music?

MORGEN: I feel like the pandemic really taught me a lot about myself in the way that I had so much time to sit and think … I thought all the thoughts and really questioned pretty much every decision I was making, from what clothes I was wearing to who I was without the people I had surrounded myself with pre-pandemic. It resulted in a lot of breaking down the fear of not being “socially acceptable” that I had ingrained into my everyday life and started building a foundation of self-worth and love.

As far as how it shows in my music, I mean, "Mom Jeans" is quite literally the definition of self-discovery — it’s a song about learning to accept yourself for who you are and not give a flying f about what people think.

LUNA: I love the bright neon aesthetic of the music video for “Mom Jeans”! What was the inspiration behind this, and what does the process look like when you’re forming the visual side of your music?

MORGEN: Thank you! Honestly, a lot of the inspiration for the "Mom Jeans" music video came from the artwork and clothes I’ve been interested in. I got really into street art, colorful collages, and maximalism, so naturally the music video for "Mom Jeans" was a weird combination of all three.

Usually when I’m creating the concept for a music video, I sit down and really think about what story I’m trying to tell or what I’m trying to get across. On this particular music video, I had the help of one of my friends, Jack Simon, who directed the video, so it was a collaboration. Going back and forth on ideas and finding how to best serve the song whilst also creating something fun to look at.

LUNA: Living in a time when our bodies are constantly under scrutiny, how important do you think music such as “Mom Jeans” is in serving to help us reclaim control and address issues such as this throughout art? Is this a prevalent theme throughout the other songs on your upcoming EP?

MORGEN: I think it’s incredibly important to have songs that are empowering right now, especially with everything that’s going on in the world. We need to remember that we are strong individuals that have to love ourselves enough so that we can look beyond our insecurities and doubts to come together and fix the mess that is humanity.

Honestly, the theme of this next EP is pretty chaotic. It’s definitely not all about self-love because there are ups and downs to this existence and it reflects that, but I wish it was. I wish I was that stable in myself, but we’re working on it (laughs).

LUNA: Are there any other upcoming projects you would like to talk about?

MORGEN: Well… "Mom Jeans" is the first single off my second EP that should be dropping in the fall, which I’m super excited about. Lots and lots of new music coming soon… WOOOOOOO ;)

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