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When Morgan Wallen appeared on The Voice in 2014, he had a great story: An aspiring pitcher from Tennessee who tore his UCL and ended his major-league dreams while throwing a pitch, he decided to turn to singing after finding his voice in church. His audition with Howie Day’s early-2000s acousti-pop hit “Collide” impressed judges Shakira and Usher right away, and although he exited the competition early, he made an impression on people in the business and at home. Wallen established himself as a songwriter in Nashville, penning songs for the likes of Jason Aldean and Dallas Smith; his collaborations with Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley proved particularly fruitful and led to Wallen touring with the country-pop hitmakers when he was still mainly known as a reality-TV alum.
If I Know Me, Wallen’s first LP, shows how he both forged his own path in Nashville and took key lessons from his former tourmates, who help him open the album. A laidback celebration of the weekend, “Up Down” boasts over a loping beat of the ability to “turn this parkin’ lot into a party/with an ice chest and some cold beer.” Wallen’s rise to stadium-headliner status is obvious in hindsight while listening to If I Know Me, which is a concise representation of what the early-’10s bro-country boom had evolved to later in the decade; there are cadences and breakbeats adapted from hip-hop, as on the bereft “Whiskey Glasses,” straight-up throwbacks to older Nashville eras like the two-stepping “Little Rain” and the rave-up “Happy Hour,” and stormy rock tracks that recall brooding post-grunge like “Not Good at Not.” Leading the way is the singer’s drawled delivery, giving extra despair to If I Know Me’s tear-in-the-beer tracks and adding insouciance to its more revelry-minded offerings.

When Morgan Wallen burst onto the scene in 2018 with his debut album If I Know Me, fans were instantly charmed by the young country artist’s clever songwriting, star-worthy vocal chops, and knack for crafting an infectious melody. His outsized public persona—including a couple minor run-ins with the law and a penchant for sleeveless shirts—only upped his star status, setting him apart from the scores of other male country artists vying for the genre’s attention. Buoyed by a 2014 stint on The Voice, Wallen quickly struck country gold, scoring three No. 1 hits off If I Know Me and announcing himself as an artist to watch.

It’s no surprise, then, that Wallen’s sophomore effort would be an ambitious one. Weighing in at a hefty 30 tracks, the double LP is a wide-ranging showcase of what country fans initially loved about Wallen and a document of how he has grown as an artist. His songwriting, which veers between tender and tongue-in-cheek, has grown more confident. The album length alone shows his willingness to buck conventional genre trends, with influences from artists as wildly different as Jason Isbell and Diplo proving Wallen to be as adventurous in his listening as he is in his bar escapades. And he clearly honed his vocal chops out on the road, with his performances on Dangerous spanning gritty twang, brassy rock, and soulful crooning, often within a single track.

Among its 30 songs, Dangerous includes massive singles like “More Than My Hometown” and “7 Summers,” as well as Wallen’s popular cover of Isbell’s Southeastern track “Cover Me Up” and an album version of the Diplo collaboration “Heartless.” Chris Stapleton guests on standout cut “Only Thing That’s Gone,” with Stapleton’s barrel-aged vocal pairing well with Wallen’s younger vintage. Closing track “Quittin’ Time” is an Eric Church co-write, linking Wallen to another country act known for eschewing conventions in favor of artistry. Opener “Sand in My Boots” shows that Wallen can put his own spin on a hometown song without veering into lyrical cliché. Producer Joey Moi’s fingerprints are all over Dangerous, but Moi—known for work with acts like Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen—treads more lightly on these tracks than is typical of his work behind the boards, making for an album focused more on letting each song shine than producing radio hits.

“I ain’t no Superman, I’m just the way I am,” Morgan Wallen drawls on the title track of his third album. That everyday-guy status—as well as a voice smooth as bourbon—had helped propel him to the top of the charts in the late 2010s. After a short stint on The Voice gave him his first visibility in 2014, his 2018 debut, If I Know Me, went to No. 1 on the country charts, and its 2021 follow-up, Dangerous: The Double Album, firmly established him as a crossover star.
Apple Music’s top album of 2023 continues the path of Dangerous, packing in three dozen tracks about whiskey, women, and world-weariness that add high-concept metaphors and surprising cross-genre pollination (downcast nu-metal balladry, twitchy trap snares) to sturdy Nashville songwriting. Wallen’s voice ties the whole package together, his conversational delivery helping tracks like the swaying recollection “Last Night” sound as natural as morning-after phone calls; his fluid twang is a big part of his appeal, giving the way he digs into his imperfections and asserts that he’s a regular dude a shot of realism believable enough to attract stadium-size crowds.
One Thing At A Time’s 36 tracks offer country fans of all generations, whether raised on honky-tonk jukeboxes or genre-melding streaming services, something to grab onto. The rollicking “Everything I Love” interpolates The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,” while the besotted “180 (Lifestyle)” borrows its boastful chorus from Rich Gang’s “Lifestyle.” There are also ingenious metaphors; the rueful “’98 Braves” uses as its central conceit the legendarily thwarted run of the baseball team that at one time represented the playoff hopes of the entire South, and “You Proof” charts a lover’s allure alongside alcoholic beverages’ potency scale. It’s not the most surprising analogy, but it rings true—and it illustrates Wallen’s ability to turn life’s details into modern country anthems.

如今正是乡村乐的辉煌时代，而 Morgan Wallen 无疑是这个领域的超级巨星，但他始终记得自己曾是那个不被看好的局外人。“等你真正了解我，就会知道我是狼群中的独行郊狼”（Once you get to know me, I’m a coyote in a field of wolves），他在专辑压轴曲《I’m A Little Crazy》中用标志性的沙哑鼻音唱道。这首歌讲述了私酒交易与午夜惶惑的故事，为他的第四张专辑《I’m The Problem》画上句点。这位 32 岁的田纳西州艺人向 Apple Music 透露，这句歌词是他的心头挚爱。“人生中有太多时刻，我感觉自己像个不速之客。”他坦言，“这句歌词说的正是：‘嘿，我知道自己不请自来，但我照样活得精彩。’”

从 2021 年发行多达 30 首曲目的《Dangerous: The Double Album》开始，Wallen 惊人的创作力一直是他的制胜法宝。2023 年 36 首曲目的《One Thing At A Time》诞生了包括现象级热单《Last Night》在内的八支单曲，更打破了 Garth Brooks 保持的 Billboard 乡村专辑冠军周数纪录。而全新专辑《I’m The Problem》以 37 首曲目、近两小时的体量再度突破自我。专辑虽长，品味起来却像夏日傍晚门廊边的冰镇啤酒般——不知不觉间就见了底。几乎没人能像 Wallen 与他长期合作的创作与制作团队（HARDY、ERNEST、Charlie Handsome、Ashley Gorley、Joey Moi）这样，打造出如此抓耳又酣畅的乡村颂歌。

威士忌、女人、钞票与皮卡等传统乡村乐主题仍是必备主题，但 Wallen 总在直面内心时最为动人。在根源摇滚风格的《Kick Myself》中，他以惊人的细腻笔触探讨恶习与责任：“什么都没改变/某种程度上还变本加厉”（Nothing’s changed/In a way it’s getting way, way worse），他在发现戒掉坏习惯后问题依旧存在时如此总结。成瘾与诱惑的主题在《Genesis》中延续，这次 Wallen 挑战了“自上而下”的创作方法，没有像通常那样从副歌开始，而是将《圣经·创世纪》篇章转化为酷劲十足的歌词：“我在想‘该怎么写首关于创世纪的歌？要表达什么？如何避免显得老套？’”

你也许以为这位 2020 年代最成功的乡村跨界巨星会高唱凯歌，但《I’m The Problem》的主旋律却是心碎：分手神曲《I Got Better》像往伤口撒盐，而《Lies Lies Lies》《Just In Case》等单曲则在悔恨的情绪里通过酒精放逐自己。“这张专辑充满各种情绪。”他解释道，“而一般来说，快乐不是我最擅长表达的。”专辑情感核心当属他为幼子创作的首支歌曲《Superman》，Wallen 向小家伙坦承自己的不完美：“我不是总能拯救世界/但为你我会永远努力”（I don’t always save the day/But you know for you, I’ll always try）。

“我想借这首歌表达很多。”谈起这首私人化的作品他说，“既想让他知道我的不足，也想给他建议，让他明白我会守护他。”看来，这位定义世代的乡村巨擘也有柔软时刻。

He may be the biggest star in country music at a time when country music’s bigger than it’s been this century, but Morgan Wallen remembers when he was the underdog. “Once you get to know me, I’m a coyote in a field of wolves,” he sings in his raspy twang on “I’m a Little Crazy,” a tale of moonshine runs and late-night paranoia that closes out his fourth album, I’m the Problem. Speaking to Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen, the 32-year-old Tennessee native singled out the line as his favorite. “At times in my life, I haven’t felt like I was invited,” he admits. “To me, that’s what that line says: ‘Hey, I know I wasn’t invited, but I’m still eating, and I’m still fed.’”

Since his sophomore album, 2021’s 30-track Dangerous: The Double Album, Wallen’s hyper-prolific bent has become a winning strategy. His 36-track follow-up, 2023’s One Thing at a Time, spawned eight singles (including the inescapable “Last Night”) and broke Garth Brooks’ Billboard record for most weeks at No. 1 by a country album. Not to be outdone, I’m the Problem clocks in at 37 tracks and nearly two hours long. But those hours fly by like a summer evening on the porch with a cooler of cold ones: No one crafts hooky, aerodynamic country anthems like Wallen and his longtime crew of co-writers and producers (HARDY, Ernest Keith Smith, Charlie Handsome, Ashley Gorley, Joey Moi).

There are the requisite odes to whiskey, women, bucks, and trucks, and Wallen’s in his sweet spot when he’s probing his own conscience, which he does with surprising nuance on songs like “Kick Myself,” a roots-rock exploration of vice and accountability: “Nothing’s changed/In a way it’s getting way, way worse,” he concludes after kicking his bad habits and realizing his problems remain. Themes of addiction and temptation continue through “Genesis,” which Wallen wrote from the top down; rather than starting with the hook like usual, he relished the challenge of flipping the first book of the Bible into something catchy and cool: “I’m like, ‘How would you write a Genesis song? What would it mean? How do you do that without sounding cheesy?’”

You’d expect the crossover country star of the 2020s to be running a victory lap, but the prevailing mood on I’m the Problem is heartbreak—served up with extra salt on the breakup banger “I Got Better,” but more often with whiskey-soaked regret on singles like “Lies Lies Lies” and “Just in Case.” (“I think there’s a lot of feelings on this album,” he says. “Happy is not the one I do best, normally.”) But the emotional centerpiece is “Superman,” the first song he’s written for his young son, on which Wallen admits his imperfections to the little guy: “I don’t always save the day,” he sings, “but you know for you, I’ll always try.”

“There’s a lot of different things that I felt like I was trying to do,” he says of the deeply personal track. “Not only let him know where I fall short, but also give him advice, let him know I’m protecting him.” Generation-defining country juggernauts have feelings, too, y’know.