Nothing stays simple in a Henry Morris song. Give it long enough and romance turns into obsession, confidence curdles into self-doubt, humour hides something rawer underneath. Off stage, he’s much the same: unfiltered, self-deprecating, and sometimes disarmingly honest about the person behind the cinematic world he’s built.
The LA singer-songwriter has been quietly building his own lane since dropping his debut album Jawbreaker in 2024. There’s vintage Americana in there, some noir cinema, a bit of alternative pop, but none of it sounds like imitation. It sounds like Morris. That formula has already brought him over 10 million streams, a deal with Giant Music, and fans in Artemas, Cigarettes After Sex, Joe Jonas and Saint Levant.
His new single “My Girlfriend,” featuring Ella Boh, lives in that same universe. A laid-back West Coast groove hides something more obsessive underneath, dramatic and tender at the same time. Classic Morris. He was never going to write a straightforward love song.
With another international tour alongside Artemas on the horizon, we sat down with Morris for 18 Questions: love, ambition, creative frustration, chasing inspiration, and why he swears his best work only shows up after everything’s fallen apart.
1. What’s the first thing you usually do when you wake up?
Horny or go on Instagram and feel like a loser or go back to bed.
2. What’s one thing you can’t live without on tour?
My on again off again husband Jack Daniels. We always break up after tour </3
3. What’s the best piece of advice another musician has ever given you?
When you’re 80 years old do you wanna look back on your life and say, “Damn I could’ve had everything I wanted if I just posted on TikTok”?
4. What’s a film you think everyone should watch at least once?
Walk the Line, where Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash.
5. If you could spend a day with any songwriter, past or present, who would it be?
Jack Donoghue so he could show me how to date Courtney Love.
6. What’s one place in Los Angeles that still inspires you creatively?
Shit hole full of jaded 25-year-olds. Venice Beach though and Downtown maybe.
7. What’s the last song that genuinely stopped you in your tracks?
“Rock On” by David Essex or “Drugs and Money” by Henry Morris.
8. What keeps you motivated when self-doubt inevitably creeps in?
Fear of the abyss and being too poor to have a baby and that if I try hard enough people will finally understand what I’m trying to say.
9. “My Girlfriend” walks a fine line between romance and obsession. What fascinated you about exploring love from such an exaggerated, almost cinematic perspective?
Romance and obsession are the same thing if you do it right. Maybe don’t listen to my advice on this. I lost every love because she said I’m too self absorbed. If a romance doesn’t have the potential to break me completely at any moment I literally don’t care about it.
10. Ella Boh brings a completely different emotional perspective to the song. At what point did you realise it wasn’t meant to be a solo record anymore?
We were gonna make a different song together because we’re really good friends and we thought it’d be fun to play a song together on the Artemas Europe tour in November. I randomly sent her the demo of “My Girlfriend” with the hook and no verses and she was like, “This is the song we should do together, duh!” Also she has a girlfriend and it’s important to have someone who has a girlfriend on a song called “My Girlfriend” or else I’m just LARPing.
11. You’ve described writing about a partner who accepts every part of you, good and bad. Has your understanding of love changed as you’ve gotten older, or is this more about chasing an ideal?
I changed my mind since I wrote that summary of the song. What I really want is a woman who loves me and yells at me all day whenever I’m not doing my best. Where r u baby. Love is a chemical reaction maybe. I can tell if I’ll be able to fall in love with someone in the first five minutes of meeting them.
12. Your music often feels like it’s set inside a film rather than just a song. Do you see visuals while you’re writing, or do those worlds come later?
That makes me happy you think that <3. Everything needs to feel and sound “gothic beach” or I won’t release it. Visuals always.
13. Signing with Giant Music marks a big moment in your career. What made this partnership feel like the right next step rather than staying completely independent?
They’re all really nice to me and are smart and want me to be successful. And I needed money bad.
14. Jawbreaker introduced a very distinctive world, full of noir imagery and old Hollywood influences. Looking back now, what do you think that album taught you about yourself as an artist?
No matter how good of a song I make I never feel like I matter to anyone at all except to my fans. And even then I wonder. It taught me I’m very angry and I don’t know why but that by the time I’m done I’ll be one of the best songwriters of all time.
15. You’ll be heading back out with Artemas on an even bigger international tour this autumn. Having toured together before, how has watching his rise influenced your own ambitions?
He’s one of my best friends I’ve ever had. We’re starting a band called Depeche Mode after the famous ’80s band Depeche Mode. It will be unlistenable. The first time I worked with him and Kev my songwriting changed forever. Never seen someone grab shit outta thin air like him. Can’t wait to write with him on tour, it’s the best part aside from having 100000 beers. I’m usually a really jealous person but seeing the success he has had has made me really fired up. I want him to be the biggest artist in the world.
16. Your songs rarely offer simple happy endings. Do you find yourself naturally drawn towards flawed characters and uncomfortable emotions, or do those stories simply come looking for you?
I’m so bored in my life I need to write about terrible people and things because it makes my heart twitch in a way I can’t find anywhere else. Since I can remember I always felt like the world was going to end or that a strange event was going to happen to me. It’s made me notice a lot of small odd things. Disturbed or very broken people have always been in my life but I’ve never let it hurt me too bad. They make for beautiful and tragic songs.
17. You’ve built a loyal following without chasing obvious trends. In an era where artists often feel pressure to feed algorithms, how do you protect your own creative instincts?
I don’t. Sometimes I disgust myself by how much I want success in an industry that doesn’t care if I live or die. It’s so cooked. My best songs always come when I’ve hit my breaking point and I decide I hate everyone for a few weeks and make whatever I want. Then a little bit of success comes and I chase it like a dog and start the cycle over again. Ruff ruff.
18. Looking ahead to the next chapter after “My Girlfriend”, what do you hope people will understand about Henry Morris that they don’t quite see yet?
That I’m 5’10” and that’s not short. Fuck you. Children of the Sun in life, in a beautiful place thereafter. Sun Cult 2026. Fuck everyone else. ++++++++
“My Girlfriend” is out now, follow via @henrymorrisxoxo
Photography Maytal Star
