Country music star Morgan Wallen is used to singing about Tennessee, his country lifestyle, and his many past relationships. But what Wallen talks about most in his music is his sobriety journey. Wallen has been open to the public about his struggles with alcohol for a long time. He has sung about it in his past albums, “One Thing At A Time,” “Dangerous: The Double Album,” and “If I Know Me.” Now his fans are wondering if there will be a new topic of conversation in his upcoming album “I’m The Problem” or if it will be a continuation of what people who suffer with addiction say is a lifelong struggle. Judging by the album title, has Wallen hit a revelation?
Last year on Apr. 7, Morgan Wallen threw a chair off the rooftop of a bar in Nashville, TN. Wallen was then arrested and sentenced to seven days at a DUI education center and then two years of probation. Olivia Torsiello, a junior at KHS and a long-time Wallen fan, thinks Wallen will mention the misdemeanor in his new album. “I’d be surprised if he didn’t mention it. The internet was talking about it for a while,” Torsiello says.
Cayla Patel, a freshman at KHS, has a different opinion. “It’s something you’d want to leave in the past. It wasn’t his proudest moment, and it wouldn’t be mine either.”
The argument has different sides, but Wallen has been open about his past in previous albums. For example, a song on his album “One Thing At A Time,” titled “Born With a Beer in My Hand,” talks about his struggles with alcohol and that it runs in his family. Wallen has openly sung about passing out drunk and losing relationships “between the hangovers and the handcuffs” as he sang, saying “just because I smile through my sobriety don’t mean it ain’t chillin’ in the back of my mind.”
(Kylie Whalen)
There are 37 tracks on the new album. So far, Wallen has released seven songs ahead of the release date, one already having 249,675,485 streams on Spotify. The released songs contain a mix of pop, country, and classic country, and so far, all seven of them mention alcohol, suggesting that he is still working through his problems in his albums, but 30 songs remain to be heard. And while his previous songs are heavy on acoustic guitar, the new releases introduce synthesized sounds, establishing a pop country vibe.
Kylie Whalen, a freshman at KHS, has been to one of his concerts to hear him live. “Hearing him singing with his guitar live made me realize how beautiful it sounds,” Whalen comments, cautioning, “I’m not sure I like his new sound.”
Many of Wallen’s songs have reached high rankings in charts. “I Had Some Help” with Post Malone reached the Billboard Hot 100’s top three. Wallen has mostly collaborated with artists Eric Church, Post Malone, and ERNEST. His upcoming album features Tate McRae, Eric Church, HARDY, ERNEST, and Post Malone. One of Wallen’s new tracks, “Love Somebody,” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his third song to reach that milestone. The track is one of Wallen’s new tracks that sounds different, but some fans aren’t used to the new sound yet. “I miss when Wallen made songs like ‘7 Summers, ’” Patel says.
Morgan Wallen’s Music Video for the Early Release Song “Smile” is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7KdQ8CTe5E
