Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country pop singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of The Voice, originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated in the playoffs of that season, he signed to Panacea Records, releasing his debut EP, Stand Alone, in 2015.
His third studio album, One Thing at a Time (2023), topped the Billboard 200 for 19 non-consecutive weeks, with all of its 36 tracks entering the Billboard Hot 100. This broke the record for most songs by an artist on the chart at one time.[7] The single "Last Night" peaked atop the Hot 100 in 2023, becoming Wallen's first single to do so, and later set the record for the most weeks at number one for a non-collaboration song (sixteen weeks), as well as tying for the second most weeks of all time and topping the year-end chart. He has received several awards including an Academy of Country Music Award and fourteen Billboard Music Awards.[8]
As a child, Wallen took piano and violin lessons. He was raised on a diverse musical playlist, with his father exposing him to classic rock mainstays. In his teens, he gravitated towards bands like Breaking Benjamin and Nickelback, as well as rappers like Lil Wayne.[13] Wallen has characterized his early adulthood as adrift; he worked in landscaping after high school and was disappointed by his inability to continue his baseball career.[10] He re-approached his interest in music and began learning guitar.[13] He had grown to love country music, especially artists like Keith Whitley and Eric Church, and he modeled his sound after that lineage.[13]
Career
2014–2015: The Voice and Stand Alone
In 2014, Wallen competed on season 6 of the music competition program The Voice. He auditioned with the song "Collide" by Howie Day. Judges Shakira and Usher complimented his stylings, and Wallen joined Usher's team. He was later taken by Adam Levine's team after his second round, and later eliminated during the playoffs.[12] Wallen later said of his experience on the show, "Some things in life are out of your control. Being the best you can be isn't. I didn't feel like I was the best I could have been. So I practiced harder".[13]The Voice was instrumental in raising Wallen's profile, and he began to establish connections in the music industry.[11]
While in California to appear on The Voice, Wallen began working with Sergio Sanchez of Atom Smash, a vocal coach on the program. Wallen relocated to Nashville to further his career, and he and Sanchez started a temporary band: Morgan Wallen & Them Shadows.[11] Sanchez introduced Wallen to Bill Ray and Paul Trust of Panacea Records.[14] In 2015, Wallen signed to Panacea Records where he was joined by Dominic Frost on guitar and released the Stand Alone (EP) on August 24, 2015. "Spin You Around" was Wallen's debut single under Panacea Records; it was later certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2021.[15]
At the outset of his career, Wallen underwent a personal stylistic shift, adopting a distinctive mullet and a look that Kelefa Sanneh, profiling Wallen's rise in a piece for The New Yorker, described as "Everyman rock star" and "not just a singer but a character".[10] Wallen had decided to adopt the retro hairdo after seeing a younger photo of his father with the cut.[13] Wallen's debut studio album, If I Know Me, was released on April 27, 2018,[21] with its third single, "Whiskey Glasses", becoming his biggest success yet.[22] The song reached the top spot on both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts; it also marked his top 40 appearance on the all-genre Hot 100 ranking, where it placed at number 17. It was Billboard's 2019 top Hot Country song and Top Country Airplay song.[23] Sanneh characterized "Whiskey Glasses" as his signature song and a "perfectly constructed ode to a woman and a drink, lost and found, respectively".[10] In 2019, Wallen joined Florida Georgia Line on their Can't Say I Ain't Country Tour.[24] His next single, "Chasin' You", was serviced to radio in July 2019 and peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart;[25][6] like its predecessor, it captured the top spot on the overall year-end tally for 2020.[13] In August 2020, If I Know Me reached No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart after a record-breaking 114 weeks.
2020–2021: Dangerous: The Double Album
Wallen's profile continued to rise, with a growing following on platforms like TikTok, and he developed into an unwitting sex symbol.[10] Wallen appeared on the cover of Billboard, whose headline read: "Is Morgan Wallen Country's Next Global Star?"[13] At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wallen found himself with more time to write and record material, which developed into his sophomore album, the double-disc Dangerous: The Double Album (2021),[26] which showcases a mix of country and R&B/pop balladry.[11]Dangerous was an immediate blockbuster: it debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart;[27][28] it would remain atop the Canadian chart for four consecutive weeks, and the US chart for six consecutive weeks, marking the first new album from a country artist to do that since Garth Brooks' The Chase in 1992.[29][30][31][32] Its singles—"More Than My Hometown", "7 Summers", "Sand in My Boots" and "Wasted on You"—were record-breaking hit songs that pushed Wallen farther into the national conversation. "7 Summers" earned him his first top 10 on the Hot 100, debuting and peaking at number six,[33] and was also chosen by Time as one of the best songs of the year.[34] Wallen soon became the first artist to ever chart six songs within the top 10 of Hot Country Songs chart at the same time in the week after his album's release;[35] likewise, the album charted 23 tracks on the Canadian Hot 100,[36] and 19 tracks on the Hot 100 in the US.[37]
Use of racial slur
On February 2, 2021, TMZ released a video recorded on January 31 showing Wallen using the racial slur "nigger" to one of his friends after a night out.[38][39] He issued a statement shortly after and apologized.[40] Several radio stations temporarily removed Wallen's music from airplay on their stations, and his songs were removed from Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify featured playlists.[41][42]CMT and the Country Music Association removed Wallen's appearances from their platforms, and his record label Big Loud (and partner Republic Records) suspended its recording contract with him indefinitely.[43][44] The Academy of Country Music announced that Wallen and the album Dangerous: The Double Album would be ineligible for the 56th AnnualAcademy of Country Music Awards.[45][46] On February 10, Wallen shot an apology video in which he asked his fans not to defend him.[47]
In April 2021, Wallen donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition in the names of 20 people who had counseled him following the incident. Those individuals were given the option to funnel their respective $15,000 donations to a charity of their choice, or keep the money within the BMAC.[48] Wallen publicly spoke of his comments on Good Morning America on July 23, where he said that "he was around some of his friends, and they say dumb stuff together" and said that "he was wrong" to express those words.[49] Wallen's songs returned to country radio in August when his single "Sand in My Boots" was released.[50] He was nominated for Favorite Male Country Artist and Favorite Country Album for the 2021 American Music Awards, but was not invited to attend the ceremony, and was consequently unable to accept any awards if he won, which he did not.[51]
Wallen performing in 2022
Though his public image took a hit, Wallen’s popularity increased.[52] In the week following the controversy, album sales of Dangerous surged. In some cases, the physical as well as digital album sales went up over 100% in the week following the controversy.[53] He remained atop the Billboard charts for seven more weeks; If I Know Me even entered the top 10 for the first time.[54] Over the ensuing years, Dangerous remained a juggernaut; Ben Sisario, writing in The New York Times, dubbed it "an unusually enduring hit".[55] It has continued to break chart records:[29] it was the best-performing album of 2021,[56] and in 2022, the album broke the record for the most weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart among albums by a singular artist, surpassing a goal set a half-century before.[57]Dangerous was awarded Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music;[58] Wallen also won Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album at the inaugural Country Now Awards.[59]
2022–present: One Thing at a Time
Wallen has continued to release new music, and has remained a popular draw on the road. The Dangerous Tour of arenas and amphitheaters was completely sold-out.[56][60] His single "You Proof" became his second Hot 100 hit and first to reach the top five; both "You Proof" and "Thought You Should Know" topped the country charts. Wallen also collaborated with rapper Lil Durk on the song "Broadway Girls", a top-15 hit on the Hot 100; he also performed the song live with Durk at MLK Freedom Fest in Nashville.[61] Wallen was a co-writer on the Tyler Joe Miller single "Wild as Her", released in February 2022, and the Keith Urban single "Brown Eyes Baby, released in July 2022.[62][63] In December 2022, Wallen released a sampler EP titled One Thing at a Time, featuring three songs he had been working on up until this point, titled "One Thing at a Time", "Tennessee Fan" and "Days That End in Why".[64] In 2023, Wallen expanded to stadiums with his One Night at a Time World Tour.[65] Wallen released his third studio album One Thing at a Time on March 3, 2023.[66]
On April 23, 2023, at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, just minutes before he was set to perform, Wallen announced that he could not perform due to losing his voice. Fans were directed to receive refunds at their points of purchase.[67] In May 2023, Wallen was featured on the song "Stand by Me" from Lil Durk's eighth studio album, Almost Healed. Wallen was a co-writer on the 2023 single "Fixer Upper" by Dallas Smith.[68][69]
On January 26, 2024, Panacea Records released a deluxe 10th anniversary edition of Morgan Wallen's 2015 EP Stand Alone that included eight previously unreleased songs. These songs were recorded in the same sessions as the original Stand Alone songs. Before the release of the 10th anniversary album, Wallen released a statement on his Instagram page saying that the release of this album was happening "against his wishes".[70] Wallen released "Spin You Around (1/24)", an acoustic re-recording of the original, in response to the album's release.[71]
On March 3, 2024, he shared performances as part of his Abbey Road Sessions and performed a new song titled "Lies Lies Lies".[72] On May 2, 2024, Wallen announced his next single entitled "I Had Some Help" with Post Malone, which was released on May 10.[73] In September 2024, Wallen announced his second single from his upcoming fourth studio album, "Love Somebody", to release on October 18.[74]
Legal and public health issues
In May 2020, Wallen was arrested and charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct after leaving Kid Rock's bar in Nashville, Tennessee, and he confessed via Twitter that he and a few friends were "horse-playing with each other" after a couple of bar stops, saying "We didn't mean any harm, and we want to say sorry to any bar staff or anyone that was affected."[75][76]
In October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple videos were posted on TikTok showing Wallen ignoring CDC guidelines in bars and other locations in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, area after attending a University of Alabama football game. Wallen was shown partying maskless, not following social distancing guidelines, and kissing several women in these videos. Wallen was criticized for his conduct, partly as his ex-girlfriend had recently given birth. As a result of his actions, Wallen was cancelled as the musical guest on that week's episode of Saturday Night Live; he ultimately performed in an episode two months later hosted by actor Jason Bateman, in which Bateman, Wallen, and several cast members parody the incident and resulting fallout.[77][78][79][80]
On April 7, 2024, Wallen was arrested after allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of Eric Church's newly-opened bar on Broadway in Nashville. He was charged with three counts of felony reckless endangerment and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct after the projectile landed near two police officers on the ground.[81]
Personal life
In 2016, Wallen began a relationship with influencer KT Smith, and the couple got engaged several months later.[82][83] In 2019, they separated, allegedly due to Wallen's infidelity, and welcomed a son, Indigo (b. 2020), together several months after their breakup.[84][85][83] Smith is now married to another man.[83] Wallen has also been romantically linked with influencer Paige Lorenze,[86] and fellow country singer Megan Moroney, who allegedly wrote her breakout song "Tennessee Orange" about him.[87][88][89]
On June 1, 2024, Wallen opened Morgan Wallen's This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, a six-story bar, restaurant and music venue, in downtown Nashville.[90]
