MŌRIAH

MŌRIAH has never seen country music and her Mexican heritage as two separate worlds. She grew up in Chino, California, with country radio and mariachi in the mix, while summers with family in El Paso kept another part of her roots close. Now based in Nashville, she is building a career around bringing those influences together, not only through music, but increasingly through film and storytelling.

That vision came into focus in 2025 with Nice Life and Buena Vida, companion EPs released one week apart in English and Spanish. The projects allowed MŌRIAH to tell the same stories in both languages while giving each version its own cultural perspective.

© Taylor Hill

Even the artwork carried meaning. On Buena Vida, she wears a sombrero charro, and on Nice Life, it rests on the table, reflecting a family history shaped by immigration and learning a new language. The music also made something deeply personal possible. Her grandfather had once toured as a musician in Mexico before leaving performing behind after immigrating to the United States. With Buena Vida, he could understand every word his granddaughter was singing.

Nashville was paying attention. MŌRIAH was named CMT’s Next Women of Country class in 2025 and performed during CMA Fest with mariachi musicians and her father on bass. In September, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut, stepping onto one of country’s most recognizable stages as a Mexican-American artist determined to make the genre feel more expansive. 

By 2026, that momentum had moved well beyond the recording studio. She released “Ever & Ever Before” and continued making music in English and Spanish. In March, she signed with CAA across music, acting and speaking. On screen, she led the thriller MIMICs and spent the summer filming A Music City Story in Middle Tennessee, starring as a singer-songwriter breaking free from a controlling manager and serving as a producer. Her husband, Joel Smallbone of the group, for KING + COUNTRY, co-stars.

© Tibrina Hobson

She also recorded the end-credits song for Jimmy, arriving in theaters November 6, and directed its music video herself. In September, her TEDx talk was released, adding another platform for a performer whose work increasingly moves between music, movies and conversations about culture.

For MŌRIAH, those different lanes are beginning to look less like separate careers rather than parts of the same story. The granddaughter of a Mexican musician who stopped performing after coming to America is now singing in both languages, standing on the Grand Ole Opry stage and creating films of her own. She isn't leaving one world to enter another. She is finding ways to make room for all of them.