Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2026 featured a massive lineup, including performances by stars like Demi Lovato, Mariah Carey, Post Malone, and Maren Morris. Maren Morris, who performed a medley of her most popular hits, including "The Bones" and "80s Mercedes", shared with fans on Instagram that she had "the worst sinus infection of my life" just a few days leading up to the show.
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In her story, she posted pictures of a swollen face and gave credit to antibiotics and concealer for getting her through.
"Sorry, jumpscare. But days leading up to my performance, I had the worst sinus infection of my life, and it swelled up my face and then proceeded to evolve into some insane skin reaction," Morris shared. "I'm relieved I was able to sing last night. Thank you, antibiotics, Afrin & Aquaphor. Oh, and concealer."
The pop artist also recapped the rest of her night in an upbeat Instagram post. "performed in Times Square last night for NYE right as it started to snow, met the queen Diana Ross, had Janet help me button my bodysuit (that's a real manager) and got super emo when confetti fell over thousands of hopeful, happy people in one of my favorite cities. happy 2026, world."
How the Past Few Years Inspired Maren Morris' "Dreamsicle"
Over the past several years, Maren Morris, who initially rose to prominence in country music, has been shifting towards pop music. Just this year, Morris released a new album, DREAMSICLE, inspired by her decision to move on from her marriage to country singer Ryan Hurd, and also move towards a different sound. She talked about this in an interview on her YouTube channel.
"My marriage ended, and I had an almost 4-year-old, and I had walked away from a very big life and career in country music," she said of life before DREAMSICLE. "Or, I walked away from really big portions of it. So, I had to really recalibrate and live in the grief of things ending."
Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris met in 2013 during a co-writing session, in which they wrote the song "Last Turn Home", which would later be recorded by Tim McGraw. After a few years as creative partners, Hurd and Morris started dating in 2015 and were married three years later. Ultimately, the couple divorced due to "irreconcilable differences."
She shared, "The point of this record is, it's all gonna fade, so every time you move into something new, that fades, and something else takes bloom."
