The Tragedy of Morgan Wallen

A lesson in consequences and how forgiveness isn't guaranteed, nor is it necessary.

• CW: Discussion of substance abuse and references to death.

When I initially started this Substack, I hoped to start a sort of quarterly album review series where I went through the albums I most wanted to talk about in the first half of the year. About a month into this year though, I’m honestly considering dropping the idea and only reviewing albums when they give me something to say. 2021 has been a slow year for music so far, and there’s really only one album that I had any interest to talk about at length. Unfortunately, due to recent events, my initial feelings on it have completely shifted to the point where talking about the album itself feels kind of pointless. Especially when there are bigger things going on than the music itself.

For the first month of 2021, the world belonged to Morgan Wallen. A doofy, mullet-bearing jackass with a heart of gold and a deep love for country music and his hometown. Not exactly someone I expected to be country music’s first megastar after the bro-country era dug the genre into the ground and turned it into a punchline. In fact, by all outward appearances, you’d think Morgan Wallen is merely another cog in the machine. He has an obnoxious frat boy attitude and makes songs bragging about his small-town upbringing and how “country” he is, even despite his penchant for using pop elements in his country music (specifically trap percussion).

But there’s something about Morgan Wallen’s music that resonates with audiences. Enough so that he’s surpassed all of his peers in Nashville and became inescapably huge. He became the first country artist since Garth Brooks to debut in the Top 10 and then proceeded to do it again with the release of his sophomore double album, Dangerous. That album broke streaming records and notched several songs on the Hot 100, a lot of its singles and even deepcuts staying within the Top 40 of the chart since the album’s release. Make no mistake, even in a slower month for music, Morgan Wallen was on top of the world.

And it all came crashing down in one night.

TMZ managed to capture footage of Morgan pestering his neighbors by being loud and rowdy, and in response, Morgan Wallen told a friend of his to “Take care of this pussy ass motherfucker. Take care of this pussy ass n******.” Morgan pulled out a panicked apology as soon as he was caught, but by then, it was too late. The video spread like wildfire and people were angry. This wasn’t the first time Morgan Wallen had been reckless within the past couple of months. He initially got pulled from SNL for breaking quarantine and going to a maskless party to make out with college girls. Back then, it went over really well because Morgan’s apology was sincere and regretful of his actions. So much so, they made a whole skit revolving around Morgan’s misadventure when he came back a few weeks later. It was a stupid move, but it at least showed that despite his frat boy stupidity, he is otherwise a genuine person and seemed to learn from his mistakes.

He doesn’t have that luxury this time. There’s nothing he can do to dispel this footage. He clearly and distinctly called someone the n-word. His apology didn’t matter. Immediately after the news broke out, Cumulus Media, one of the biggest radio and playlist chains in the country, sent out an emergency directive instructing radio stations and playlists to remove Morgan Wallen’s music until further notice. The effect was quick, as Morgan’s music was removed from Spotify and Apple Music playlists by the next morning. Radio support for his album will likely follow suit. And in the biggest news of this debacle, Morgan Wallen’s label Big Loud has gone far enough to suspend his contract indefinitely, laying the final blow on Morgan Wallen and putting his career in jeopardy. This isn’t a cancellation, this is an intervention.

I’m frankly stunned by the reaction this incident has caused within the industry. I expected this to get swept under the rug or ignored. After all, Morgan Wallen is Nashville’s golden boy. Surely, they wouldn’t risk sacrificing their biggest star for something that upholds their morals, right? Yet, that’s exactly what happened. I’ve never seen a major artist lose this much support this fast. Not since the massive fallout of PWR BTTM, and even they’ve never had the size of Morgan Wallen’s success.

So the industry has done its job, but what I’m more curious about is what we can do about this. One of the harsh truths of morality in music is realizing our individual actions won’t have any effect. We can boycott everything a problematic artist has made, but we can’t guarantee that everyone else will follow suit. Morgan Wallen being dropped by playlists and radio won’t stop people who unapologetically love his music, regardless of how “problematic” he is. You’re bound to find people who will tout useless phrases like “separate the artist from the art” or “cancel culture” in response to this situation. Hell, some of Morgan Wallen’s fans might not even be aware this happened. Remember, as much as our lives revolve around social media, not everyone is tuned in the same way. So, what? Should we just do nothing and accept that one of our favorite artists might be a racist shitbag? Obviously not. Accountability is important. Doesn’t matter if you like their art or not, if the artist does something reprehensible, you should absolutely never endorse that or ignore it for the sake of their art.

The iTunes charts as of February 4th, 2021.

In fact, just to prove how difficult it is to actually boycott already successful artists, the day after the news broke out, Morgan Wallen’s performance on the usual streaming and sales apps didn’t really change. In fact, in iTunes case, it only improved his traction and sent a lot of his songs up the charts. In Spotify’s case, it was a mixed bag. “More Than My Hometown” poised the biggest drop in traction for that day, but in turn “Whiskey Glasses” poised the biggest gain for that day. In other words, even with playlists exiling his music, people are still going back to the album, and in some cases, boosting its popularity. Does this mean the world is full of people who will excuse racism or think his racist tirades are actually a good thing? Now slow your roll there, it’s not that simple. Like I said earlier, there are a lot of factors that can go into how the world reacts to moments of scandal like this. To assume people consuming more art says something about their character, their morals, whatever, is hasty and cynical.

I think the reality is for a lot of people, this kind of thing doesn’t matter. Not that they don’t care that he could be racist or that he did something incredibly fucked up, but those kinds of things don’t always affect how they feel about the music. Some people do feel differently with that added context, but not all of them. And that’s not a commentary on their psyche or their moral standings, it’s just the way they consume art.

I know I’ve had to deal with plenty of conflicting feelings about the music I love, the music I hate, and who made them. When an artist you like does something bad in the public eye, your initial instinct is to either defend them or feel hurt by their actions. Likewise, there’s a sense of pride in having an artist you already dislike get exposed as a bad person, because it makes you feel superior for catching on to their negative energy. I’ve already seen big viral tweets claiming they knew Morgan Wallen looked like a racist or saying they’ve heard more apologies from Morgan Wallen than actual songs. Which yeah, that’s funny for a moment, but at the same time, there’s a lot of people who feel betrayed over Morgan Wallen' exposing his most hurtful and prejudiced side. Not helped by outside testimony from Maren Morris and Mickey Guyton claiming it’s not the first time he’s had a scuffle like this.

I myself have felt exhausted over this whole ordeal because I’ve been following Morgan’s rise to fame ever since he released that cover of “Cover Me Up”. I knew he had potential in him as an artist, showcased by his enthusiasm for covering a song by one of my favorite songwriters of all time. He may have come off as a nasal bro-douche in his first couple singles, but “Cover Me Up” showed the potential for a more grounded, likable guy who may be a bit reckless and stupid, but his heart of gold reminds you that he’s human and just trying to get through life his own way. The release of his sophomore album Dangerous only confirmed that perspective on his music, and I’ve found myself really loving the album more and more each day. Sure, that second disc has some really bad songs that reek of label compromise, but the album is not only fantastic at its best, but it has a big ratio of good songs to bad songs which has continued to impress me the more I listen to it. Out of the thirty songs on this massive album, there are at least twenty songs that I’d be more than happy to come back to, and the best of these songs have been all over my mind. “7 Summers”, “More Than My Hometown”, “Neon Eyes”, “Somebody’s Problem”, “Quittin’ Time”, “Only Thing That’s Gone”, “This Bar”, “865”, “Silverado For Sale”, of course “Cover Me Up”, all of these are genuinely great songs that I’ve really fallen in love with. I’ll even go as far as to say that “Sand In My Boots”, the album’s stunning opener, is my current frontrunner for song of the year.

Hearing about Morgan Wallen saying the n-word really hurt. I almost didn’t even react when I first heard about it. My first instinct was honestly to laugh. Of course, he said the n-word. Of course, he was being obnoxious and hot-headed to the point where he’d hurl an insult he clearly didn’t understand the weight of. What a fucking moron. But it still sucked. I’m constantly reminded of my identity as a country fan. I’m not the characteristic redneck, confederate flag bearing dipshit that every white liberal assumes country fans are. I’m a non-binary Mexican with brown skin and left-leaning views. I never grew up in the small towns that country artists did, but I still love the stories these artists have and their connection with their older roots, whether it’d be in a purely positive or bittersweet light. I love this genre so much, and yet, I always feel out of place listening to it. And I have to remind myself to be careful of the artists I do end up liking because chances are they’re not going to like me back. My luck has mostly resulted in my favorite artists being leftist, liberal, or left-leaning, but there’s still the bro frat types that I end up liking regardless of how meatheaded they are, and I honestly can’t bring myself to trust them because I know I’m not as welcome to them as people with lighter skin and American roots.

But I think my feelings on Morgan Wallen are very different from that, and it all ties back to the song that made me give him a chance in the first place.

“Cover Me Up” is a very important song to me. It’s a song about redemption and finding comfort in someone who has the utmost patience for you because they know the person you truly are. Jason Isbell wrote this song about his relationship with his wife, and how it was her belief that he can be better that made him finally quit drinking. There’s some real tension between Isbell and his wife, where, in the middle of the song, Isbell nearly attacks his wife in a drunken rage, and that moment could have very nearly destroyed their marriage and left Isbell afraid and alone. “Put your faith to the test when I tore off your dress in Richmond on high/I sobered up. Swore off that stuff forever this time". Isbell asks nothing more from his wife than to merely give him comfort, keep him safe, and save him from the monster within himself. I genuinely consider it the best love song of the 2010s, and I remember feeling kind of elated seeing it resonate with people so strongly. This cover was never a single, but it probably single-handedly changed Wallen’s career path and kept him off the full bro personality he initially had on his debut.

But it’s also the song on the album that feels the strangest. Fellow critic Mark Grondin of Spectrum Pulse noted how the song being paired up alongside songs about drinking, whether it’s over heartbreak or at a party, feels unintentionally telling and concerning. If this song really did resonate with Wallen enough to cover it and share it with his fans, why would he continue to encourage the unhealthy drinking habits entwined in songs like “Wasted On You”, “865”, “Only Thing That’s Gone”, “Beer Don’t”, “Livin’ The Dream” and others?

Actually, let’s go back to that last one, “Livin’ The Dream” because that’s the song that’s been running in my head ever since I heard about this whole thing.

I didn’t name this song when talking about my favorite songs on the album, but honestly, it probably is in my Top 3 or 4 of the album. I’ve always loved the seething resentment of this song and its sour groove, Wallen being at his most bitter and spiteful. He vents about how living the “rockstar” life is actually fucking miserable and draining. He’s gotten to the top, given the freedom to not only do what he wants but have the ubiquity to do so with little to no consequences. This song became tragically prophetic after last night, but it’s made me think about how seriously we could take this song. It was released bundled alongside “Somebody’s Problem” and “Still Goin’ Down” about a month after the SNL incident. I don’t think anyone made the connection at the time, but I definitely noticed. Suddenly, Morgan wasn’t allowed to be as reckless and stupid as he used to be. Now he has to be aware of his status as a celebrity, the way he sets an example for his fans and maybe even take advantage of them, how every time he does one of these stunts he risks his career, and yet he still does it. Because the rush of freedom is too strong to deny, even if it means two sides of himself are constantly wrestling. I found it interesting that this song ended up being placed as the penultimate song on the album, set after the disc where the drinking and good times escalated. It makes me wonder how much of a cry for help this song is. A song where Wallen is aware of his substance abuse and reckless behavior and wants to quit, but still chases the feeling of bliss and freedom, fuck the consequences. But he can’t take those consequences anymore. It’s reaching the point where he’s falling into unhealthy habits and bad decisions that put his life and career in jeopardy…

This reminds me of another song from another artist in a way I didn’t think I would ever connect the two. In “Livin’ The Dream”, Wallen clearly lets his temper and alcoholism take control of himself and leads to a dangerous habit of self-destruction and enduring the pain without ever truly helping himself out of some sense of self-hatred or defeatism. The thing that ties these two songs together is substance abuse, but for this artist, the end result was much more bleak.

The greatest tragedy of losing Juice WRLD at such a young age was that it was preventable. He didn’t have to die. He could have prospered and grown as a person. He could have escaped his drug problem and eased his depression as he moved on to a better life with new love and become one of the most influential artists of our current time. But that didn’t happen. And what happened to Juice WRLD is what I worry could happen to Morgan Wallen if this situation is unchecked.

My good friend Rodrigo Pasta covered this topic in-depth on their video on “Wishing Well”, so definitely give that a watch if you want more context, but in summary, part of what makes Juice WRLD’s death so tragic is the way the industry seemed to encourage his drug addiction. Songs like “Wishing Well” are filled with so much pain and anguish that you genuinely concerned for Juice WRLD’s health. Now, Juice WRLD is allowed to make songs about whatever he wants, but at the same time, there should have been an effort from the people working with him to really talk to Juice about his issues and see if they can get him help to get through it. After all, labels and producers have the money to get their artists’ help if they need it. So why didn’t they? Why do they let songs this graphic slide, even more so after the lyric “If I keep taking these pills I won’t be here” turned out to be prophetic? Well, the cynical and sadly most likely reason is that this kind of music makes a big profit. People love hearing Juice WRLD vent to them about his drug addiction and depression. He paints it in such a vivid picture that people can relate to that feeling of helplessness and needing temporary satisfaction to cope. But most of all, Juice WRLD was authentic. This isn’t a character he made up, it’s his real experiences with substance abuse. And that authenticity sells. So they let him continue to abuse drugs and hurt himself. They let his depression go unchecked, and it eventually killed him in a freak accident that would have never happened if Juice got the help he needed. Even worse, his upcoming album did show potential for growth and extending an arm for help. He was on the path to bettering itself, and it abruptly stopped.

Obviously, Wallen isn’t in as dangerous of a position as Juice WRLD was, but it is worth noting how much of Dangerous consists of drinking away pain or making bad decisions just to feel something. Country has always had drinking songs, but Morgan Wallen especially has a lot of them, and the way it’s feeding into his depression over heartbreak on this album is appealing to a lot of people. But what do we do now that we realize that alcoholism has consequences? Part of why we love Morgan Wallen is that he’s kind of a cocky bad boy with an attitude. He’s very unapologetic and straightforward with what he wants, and that’s an attractive trait that makes the moments he does show vulnerability feel that much more powerful. But that personality isn’t nearly as appealing when we hear him spit the n-word out of his mouth. Because then, the bad-boy attitude isn’t just a front. Now it comes off as if he’s genuinely a bad person. He might not care about what you think, and that includes whether or not you think he’s racist. And keep in mind, alcohol does not make you say these kinds of things. The unfortunate truth is that Morgan had that word in his mind and the fact that he said it while drunk doesn’t mean he would never have said it under any other circumstance. That then calls into question his attitude towards women, the way he always blames them for breaking his heart, and how maybe his drinking songs can be guilt trippy to try to get him back because, “Oh, look at how soft and sad he is! Of course, I’ll take you back, baby!”. This is why the conversation of separating the art from the artist is bullshit. Context outside of the artist’s work absolutely affects how you view their work, and if that artist exposes themselves as a shitty person, that’s going to paint their music in a very different light, and it might even ruin some songs you had different interpretations of before.

This is why I’m glad to see Morgan Wallen get so thoroughly punished for what he did. Why I’m glad that Big Loud suspended his contract, why I’m glad Cumulus Media pulled his music from so many radio stations and playlists, why I’m glad to see Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, Jason Isbell, and others denounce his behavior. I’ve seen a couple of my chart nerd friends express disappointment that certain singles currently charting will likely lose points or traction as a result of all this, and to that I say; good. I don’t care if “7 Summers” misses the year-end because of this. I don’t care if “Sand In My Boots" loses its sleeper run because of this. Morgan Wallen needs to face the consequences of his actions and force him to grow the fuck up. I don’t want him to do this shit again, because it’s unacceptable behavior, especially as the new face of modern country music. And it’s going to be hard for him to be redeemed in people’s eyes. He’s already been introduced to people as “that racist country guy”, and certain people will never forgive him. I won’t blame any black person who will never forgive him or dismiss him outright, because they have no reason to. They shouldn’t be expected to. But I also know that this isn’t going to end his career outright. Big Loud didn’t drop him, and Cumulus didn’t blacklist him, so he’ll probably be accepted back once he makes a big apology video or once the news dies down from the public eye. We can’t do much about that, which sucks.

So if he ends up sticking around, what I hope is that Wallen takes this as a hard wake up call. To knock it off with this shitty behavior, to seriously self-analyze why he felt the need to use that slur and how he can better himself to break away from this hideous part of himself, to control his drinking habits (or preferably go sober), and actually live up to his apologies instead of using them as a shield to build up his soft side. As soon as he does all that… well, that’s up to his listeners to decide. They can pretend this shit doesn’t matter, they can roll their eyes and move on to someone more deserving of his platform, they can forgive him on their own terms, whatever. Either way, I hope he never lives this down. I hope he can cite this moment in time as a turning point and begin the process of being a better person. But this is his mess, and he has to live with it. The dream didn’t kill him, he killed himself.

If you took the time to read this essay, while I would like to thank you for reading, I would also like you to check out other articles and essays about this situation from people more qualified than I am. In particular, Andrea Williams wrote a fantastic piece about how the industry could build a better, safer environment for black artists, behind the scenes or on the mic, and how Wallen’s actions may represent the industry more than certain artists would prefer to admit. Also, if you like listening to podcasts, Roxanne Gay and Dr. Tressie McMilliam Cottom recently talked with singer/songwriter Rissi Palmer about the history of black contributions to country music, and how it’s been often ignored and erased from history. You need a subscription to listen to the full thing, but you can start a free trial if you’re interested in checking it out. I very much recommend it.