'Beautiful Things' by Megan Moroney - Lyrics & Meaning

Played for the first time live at her show in Charleston, South Carolina, on her Am I Okay? Tour, Megan Moroney debuted her long awaited, ‘Beautiful Things’.

Before the song, Moroney noted that she wrote it with her niece in mind. “When she was born, I remember just looking at her and being like, ‘she’s so perfect’,” Moroney shared, “and I just never want anything sad to happen to her.”

‘Beautiful Things’ comes as part of the run up to Moroney’s third album, which is expected for release next year, alongside tracks like ‘6 Months Later’ and ‘You Had To Be There’ with Kenny Chesney.

We’ve only heard the live version of 'Beautiful Things' so far, so it's hard to say definitively what to expect from the sound. However, it’s highly likely it’ll be a stripped back track.

Moroney played the live version with just her and her guitar, accompanied by some gentle backing vocals. The beauty is in the sentiment of this song and her emotion hangs heavy in her voice.

"You're standing at your bathroom mirror
Cryin' "What did I do?" tears
Your friends are out and you're right here
There's a party, you didn't know
You just found out from your phone
Did they not want you to go?"

The opening verse has all the hallmarks of our beloved Emo Cowgirl.

A heavily relatable scenario, particularly for the younger girls she wrote it for, Moroney starts to outline the theme of the song and the heartbreaking complexity of just trying to get it right when you’re young.

"Fires burn up canyons
A hurricane can wreck a beach
Words can make a mockingbird forget they're born to sing
Lies can break a fragile heart
And doubt can crush your dreams
But honey, just take it from me
The world is hard on beautiful things"

Moroney juxtaposes beautiful imagery with natural disasters, demonstrating the helplessness of faultless hardship. Further embedding this feeling, she brings the concept closer to home with lyrics that help the listener identify more with highly relatable concepts such as lies, doubt, love and dreams.

Moroney uses "beautiful things" to reference both nature and people, particularly the subject of the song.

"You're pretty and you're smart
God made a work of art
Girl, don't pick yourself apart
And quit wondering why he did it
Nothin' bout you needs fixin'
It ain't what you are
It's what he isn't"

Reminding us of what’s so easy to forget, Moroney builds up her subject the same way she’s picked herself up so many times before. She is quite literally the agony aunt.

This verse stands strong as a message to ignore self-doubt and push aside the inner critic. Moroney knows the score because she’s been there before and that’s what hurts the most–the deep understanding of heartache and the shattering of self-esteem.

She’s here to stop that train before it leaves the station and ensure the message is clear: it’s not you, it’s them.

Moroney gave ‘Beautiful Things’ a special intro on its debut, sharing the concept behind it and how it came to be.

“I was the girl in middle school that wasn’t invited to the parties,” she shared, “and when I got a little bit older I couldn’t make the guy love me and stay with me and I just wish I had a song that said exactly this.”

An ode to her niece and the closest she’s ever got to writing a song to herself, ‘Beautiful Things’ is a love letter to all the emo cowgirls who are going through it.

“I think this song is just a great reminder that we’re all going through something,” Moroney said before playing the song, “so just be nice to each other.”

You're standing at your bathroom mirror
Cryin' "What did I do?" tears
Your friends are out and you're right here
There's a party, you didn't know
You just found out from your phone
Did they not want you to go?

Oh yeah, you feel that twisting knife
Oh, I know it ain't right

Fires burn up canyons
A hurricane can wreck a beach
Words can make a mockingbird forget they're born to sing
Lies can break a fragile heart
And doubt can crush your dreams
But honey, just take it from me
The world is hard on beautiful things

You're pretty and you're smart
God made a work of art
Girl, don't pick yourself apart
And quit wondering why he did it
Nothin' bout you needs fixin'
It ain't what you are
It's what he isn't

Oh, I know it don't feel fair
Oh, I can't count the times I've been there

Fires burn up canyons
A hurricane can wreck a beach
Words can make a mockingbird forget they're born to sing
Lies can break a fragile heart
And doubt can crush your dreams
But honey, just take it from me
The world is hard on beautiful things

You shine it's gonna be alright
You're gonna be alright
You shine it's gonna be alright
You're gonna be alright

Fires burn up canyons
A hurricane can wreck a beach
Come on pretty mockingbird I wanna hear you sing
Lies can break a fragile heart
And doubt can crush your dreams
But honey, just take it from me
Just hold on, just breeze
The world is hard on beautiful things

You shine it's gonna be alright
You're gonna be alright

––

For more on Megan Moroney, see below:

Megan Moroney

Artist