In his songs, Morgan Wallen has done it all.
He’s met his dream girl, only to lose her through a series of unfortunate events, often of his own design. He’s made it to church on Sundays even after he’s spent all of Friday and Saturday drowning his sorrows in whiskey bottles.
He finds love only to break her heart. Sometimes, he’s on the opposite end, and he breaks hers. He drinks, and stumbles, and fails. But Wallen doesn’t stop trying. He pledges to change his ways. If you’ll just give him one more chance.
Wallen’s music catalogues it’s a never-ending cycle of failure and redemption. These apologies often arrive in Wallen’s elongated albums stuffed with bumper-sticker advice, a trend which has become increasingly common in country music.
A large portion of the appeal of Wallen’s country music stems from his nonchalant confidence. His songs are designed to convince audiences that he’s relatable, authentic, and (thanks to all that bumper-sticker advice) a role model.
If only it were true.
Outside of his music career, Wallen underwent scrutiny for a video of him saying the n-word during a drunken rant. There was fallout, a brief public hiatus, and what many considered to be a halfhearted apology, but it did little to halt his music’s popularity.
His last two albums have shattered country streaming and sales records. One Thing at a Time is currently the biggest country album of all time and the most popular album of the 2020s by most metrics.
The album is vintage Wallen. Thirty-plus songs that start to feel like one big rhythm of messing up and asking for forgiveness. After a while, it all blends together in a potent concoction of heartbreak, apologies, substance abuse, and drinking. So much drinking.
Wallen can tell when he’s messed up. Most of the time, he’s quick to recognize when he needs to apologize and admit his mistakes.
“Dying Man” shows a lonesome Wallen who’s desperate and worried about his drinking habits catching up to him. But eventually a new, healthy relationship with a woman saves him from this fate.
It’s also clear that Wallen has an understanding of Christianity. One Thing at a Time includes song titles such as “In the Bible” and “Don’t Think Jesus” with more subtle references like “Wine into Water,” “I Wrote the Book,” and “Man Made a Bar.”
It’s in these religious reflections where Wallen confronts his mistakes and the man he wishes he was. He admits, “Yeah the good Lord knows I need it/I didn’t write it, but I probably oughta read it” in reference to the Bible.
Yet, the stark reality of Wallen’s understanding of God appears immediately when he says, “Backroads and cold beer/Are my down-home prayer/Can’t get no closer/To the Man upstairs.” He goes on to say if his country lifestyle were in the Bible, then he’d be “one h— of a disciple.”
“Man Made a Bar” re-imagines the opening days of creation when God created man. In Wallen’s version, man gets lonely even after God gives him a woman. So what else does man turn to but building a bar to drink away his loneliness? Wallen’s borderline blasphemy is played for sarcasm. But it’s an alarming revelation of how quickly Wallen turns to alcohol as the solution to his problems.
In a song, sometimes alcohol just means alcohol. But to Wallen, booze is an all-encompassing metaphor. On “I Deserve a Drink,” Wallen sings, “you’re burning hotter than a bourbon with no water/And I want your buzz in my veins.” He goes on to say, “you’re another shot I shouldn’t knock back.” It’s not the only time he compares his lust for women to his lust for drink, temptation and all.
“Wine into Water” takes the biblical miracle of turning water into wine and turns it into a twisted scene of attempted forgiveness. Wallen sings, “But I know something even better I could try, so/I’m out here soakin’ up your porch light glow/With an apology in my left hand/Hope it tastes like a second chance.”
“Last Night” tells an all-too familiar tale of heartbreak. Wallen recounts how he and his lover fight, break up, and get back together. He says, “I know that last night we let the liquor talk …Yeah, you, you know you love to fight/And I say s— I don’t mean/But I’m still gon’ wake up wantin’ you and me.”
“Whiskey Friends” continues the troublesome trend. Wallen sings, “Looks like I did it again/Me and my stupid mouth/Dug myself into a hole in the wall/Now I gotta drink my way out.” In the midst of heartbreak, Wallen’s only friends are, as he puts it, “Jim and Jack,” a reference, of course, to the alcohol brands Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.
“Me + All Your Reasons” is an especially heartbreaking look into how Wallen attempts to cope with his problems. He sings, “I know you wanna be the one for me/No wonder why you had to run from me/H—, even I done had enough of me/Now all I got to keep me company, is some/Copenhagen, whiskey straight, and/Empty bottle, promise breakin’”
Even though Wallen takes some ownership for his problems, he’s still looking for excuses for his behavior. “Everything I Love” features a Wallen who blames his former love for his heartache.
“One Thing at a Time” shows a retributive Wallen who threatens that: “If you ain’t gonna kiss me/Then I’ll take some whiskey/Some grizzly/Nicotine amphetamines too.”
You know you’re listening to a Morgan Wallen song if there’s a not-so-subtle whiskey pun worked in to a chorus. “You Proof,” “Keith Whitely,” and “Sunrise” each contain comparisons between Wallen’s lovers and his habit of drinking whiskey. They’re featured so often across the album that it’s difficult to tell which one he loves the most.
“Thinkin ‘Bout Me” and “Single Than She Was” both show a Wallen who’s recently met a girl who’s taken. But that doesn’t stop him from flirting, buying her a drink, and scheming a way to convince her to cheat on her man.
Elsewhere, there are several references to getting high, stoned, and drunk, amidst uses of d—, h—, and s— across the album’s 36 songs.
It doesn’t really matter the genre, 36 songs is too many for one album. And Wallen probably knows this. There’s no intent for someone to listen closely to two-plus hours of Wallen’s music.
In theory, his songs are best reserved for long drives in the sunset or a bluetooth speaker around a summer campfire. The mood is what matters. Coming across as light love songs, it’s supposed to seem like a good time. That is, if you don’t listen too closely.
Under the lackadaisical vibes and casual guitar rhythms are lyrics that glamorize a troubling lifestyle and misguided worldview.
Take “Ain’t That Some” as an example. At its core, it’s a song about being from the country and having a good time. Wallen sings, “Ain’t that some C-O-U-N-T-R-Y s— we been doin’ since we was yea high/There’s folks out there ain’t T-R-Y’d this …”
It’d be easy to listen and conclude, sure there’s a little profanity, but that’s about all, right? After all, it’s a rule of country songs that anytime a word is spelled out in a song, you must sing along.
Most of the songs across One Thing at a Time are like this. Light profanity, a few casual mentions of smoking, flirting, and kissing, with references to drinking that are characteristic for the genre of country music.
Jackson Greer is a High School English Teacher in the suburbs of Texas. He lives in Coppell, Texas with his wife, Clara. They love debating whether or not to get another cat and reading poetry together. Also, he is a former employee of Focus on the Family’s Parenting Department.
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