The sweet sound of Marian Hunter

Blake Maguire and Trey Taylor / V Mag at UVA

As second-year College student Marian Morton described the effect she hopes her music will have on listeners, she stopped for a second to reflect.

“The lyrics, I mean, they could be healing for me, or fun for me more than they will end up being for someone else,” Morton said. “But I try to think of things that describe a feeling or a time or an experience that’s really hard to describe otherwise.”

For Morton, who goes by Marian Hunter onstage, this is a key source of inspiration — an impulse to articulate the things that move her.

Morton is an up-and-coming indie pop singer-songwriter from Alexandria, Virginia. She’s been interested in music ever since she can remember, learning to sing and play guitar at an early age before becoming a part of Rock of Ages Music, a local program grouping creative kids into bands, when she was nine. She sang at relatives’ weddings and in school musicals — any opportunity she could find to perform.

In her freshman year of high school, Henry Thrill, an EDM artist who grew up in her area, invited her to sing on a single for his bedroom pop band Couch Club. “Think About It” became the first song she released with the group, and she went on to collaborate on three more — “Rear View,” “Leaving Home” and “Summer Salt.”

Between Couch Club songs, Morton put out her first solo single, “Happy Fall,” inspired by seasons and relationships in transition. 

“I wanted to write about all these positive things that I like about the fall, and how I really enjoy these things, and I hope that the other person that this song is about is also going to enjoy them,” Morton said. “I hope you're well, but I don't really know how you're doing, because we don't talk anymore.”

She captures this feeling in the lyrics, singing, “Morning fog and the dew having a love affair / ‘Cause it’s been nine months since it hit eight o’clock and they were both still there.” The song now has over 7,000 streams on Spotify and earned her a spot with Baffin Records in her junior year of high school.

Morton’s presence on the Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia music scene grew following the release of “Happy Fall.” She gained exposure performing live in local venues, headlining her own small shows and opening for bigger acts like Hanoi Ragmen, a Baffin Records band.

In 2022, she entered the Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards, a competition recognizing songwriters in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area and won in the youth category, receiving a $2,500 prize. Two years later, her single “@80” won Best Pop Song at the Wammie Music Awards, an organization uplifting Washington Metropolitan Area musicians. These accomplishments encouraged Morton to continue focusing on her music career.

Her voice stands out from those of other singers, a clear, sweet sound swinging easily from one end of her staggering range to the other. Morton described herself as “a singer first,” so her creative process starts with lyrics and melody.

“Sometimes I'll hear something in my head, like a phrase, or someone says something that I think is pretty, or I see something that's beautiful, or I have a certain feeling that is so specific, and I feel like other people can relate to it,” Morton said.

In the case of “@80,” Morton focused on feeling, referencing her own struggles with endless indecision in a relationship — she sings, “Deciding’s just too much for me / I’ll still be here at 80.” The song has over 21,000 Spotify streams. 

Once she has lyrics and a melody, Morton’s collaborators get involved — she plays guitar on “Happy Fall” and piano on “@80” but needs other band members to support her sound, whether she is preparing to record the song or play onstage. Sometimes Hanoi Ragmen backs Morton, other times she finds her drums, keys, guitar and bass players in people she has been performing with for years, or from their musical networks. 

“It’s fun to meet friends of music friends of music friends,” Morton said. “Every single time I feel drained by, I don’t know, the whole process, it’s so worth it to be on stage . . . or even when you’re practicing and you hear the song come together.”

Some of these friends go to U.Va. but first connected with Morton before college. Although not taking music classes, Morton said her college experience so far has shaped her creative process.

“I think a thing I’ve learned as an artist who’s also a college student but not doing music at school is that it’s so good to try a bunch of things,” Morton said. “Take advantage of every single thing that comes your way, whoever you are — whether you’re artistic or not artistic — because right now you have time. I think that that's sort of how music has been for me — trying a bunch of new things all the time and seeing what works.”

Hunter spent her summer performing as often as possible and is in production on a new single, “Smoky Love,” coming out soon. She said she hopes music will continue to be a big part of her life in the future, but her goals reflect the openness she learned as a University student. 

“My biggest aspirations are doing music full time and performing for massive audiences and touring,” Hunter said. “That's what I love to do — perform. I don't know where it will take me, or where my university experience will take me … as long as I'm [performing], I think I'm achieving what I set out to do.”

Hunter’s music is available on Spotify and Apple Music. Information on upcoming releases and shows can be found on her Instagram.