By Maddie Keane | 10 March, 2023
Mora Sabarots, known by her stage name “Mori”, is a singer-songwriter in her third year at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Like most of my music discovery these days, I stumbled upon Mori and her music through TikTok, more specifically a video to help promote Mori’s debut single, “Johnny”. As soon as the song came out, I had it on repeat: in the car, in the shower, you name it, I couldn’t get enough! Her melodies were effortless but captivating and her lyrics hit ever so close to home for me. Have you ever found a song and thought, “the artist had to have been inside my head when writing this?” That’s “Johnny” for me. Needless to say, I fell in love with Mori and her sound, and have been hooked ever since, patiently waiting for new Mori music.
After “Johnny,” Mori put out her second single, “Apartment” in September of 2022. Once again, I was transfixed and hungry for more. Luckily, I haven’t had to wait too long for my prayers to be answered. Mori released her third single, “georgia”, on March 3, 2023. The song takes listeners along with Mori on a plane ride from Atlanta, Georgia, as she reminisces about someone she once loved and is constantly seeing reminders of anywhere she goes. In our messages Mori told me, “Basically, I was in love with this guy, and he was very non-committal, very back and forth, and very confusing.” While the two were together, she would look for signs of him wherever she went: “I was going to my cousin’s wedding and I had a layover in Atlanta which is usual for me. As my plane was about to take off, I looked over and I saw this big ‘G’, his first initial, on my runway! I thought, ‘you have to be kidding me, that is a joke’. He just kept showing up everywhere, like there were little bits and pieces of him, and I thought, ‘please, God, leave me alone, this is so not funny’.”
I’ve never been to Georgia, but I’ve come to discover that one doesn’t have to have been to be completely moved by this song. “georgia” transported me back to times I would see that one person’s same model car driving down the street, hear a song that we listened to together, or meet someone with the same name and freeze up - the good and bad memories flooding into my brain all at once. Mori’s words perfectly capture the weeks following a breakup when the world is terrible and everything reminds you of the ex you’re trying so hard to forget. The instrumentation of “georgia” is equally breathtaking – the piano and strings are soft enough as not to overshadow Mori’s beautiful voice and grow along with the song, encouraging listeners’ emotions to swell with them. The placement of the string instrumental in between the chorus and the bridge is truly genius and served as the perfect time for me to start tearing up before being hit by a bus with the bridge. In the last line of the bridge, she sings, “leave me this city in peace”, before delivering the next line, “I think it’s better before you leave me in pieces.” The contrasting use of “peace” and “pieces” is phenomenal songwriting and is one of many examples of Mori’s mastery of lyricism.
As someone who is in the beginnings of a career in the music industry, one of my favorite things is discovering fellow students who are just getting started releasing music and developing their sound. Not only is it uplifting to see the future of music unfold in artists like Mori, but it is also a point of pride that I will be able to say, “Mori? Oh yeah, I love her! I wrote a review on her third single ever!” when she inevitably soars to stardom. I absolutely adore “georgia”, and I am beyond excited to see what else Mori has in store!
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