Morgan Wallen is no stranger to cathartic breakup songs.
However, his newest single, “Lies Lies Lies,” finds Wallen more introspective and emotionally vulnerable than we’ve seen in the past. Which is to say, he’s not lashing out in a vengeful, alcohol-drenched response to love lost.
It seems Wallen is still not over whatever ex he’s been singing about since 2021’s Wasted on You. But at least this time, he’s willing to admit that he’s “on a downhill dive”—i.e., struggling mightily—since she’s been gone.
But try as he might to convince himself that he’s OK, that he’s doing fine, well, lines like that are just lies.
The chorus of the song is candidly blunt: “Habits and hard heartbreaks are hard to break/So I just tell the same old lies, lies, lyin’ to myself.”
What are those lies? Well, they fill this song. Wallen wants to believe the breakup was no big deal (“It wasn’t no thing to give you up”) and that he doesn’t even think about calling her (“And girl, tonight I won’t call again and again.”)
But then he admits that those statements “Ain’t nothin’ but/Lies, lies, lies.”
So, what’s positive here, you might ask? Well, at the very least (and this is, admittedly, a low bar), Wallen acknowledges that self-deception plays a role in his hard-to-break habits.
But while it’s nice to hear that the singer knows what habits he should be addressing and the thoughts he should be avoiding …
… ultimately, he’s not doing a very good job of that.
After the breakup, Wallen deals with self-hate (“I won’t hate myself when the mornin’ comes”), alcohol abuse (“No bottle of bourbon beside the bed”) and some obsessive, suggestive thinking (“No thoughts of your body runnin’ through my head/ … I never reach for you in another touch.”).
Perhaps Wallen hopes the lies will make all the pain go away. But deep down, he knows that’s not true.
We hear “d–n” and “h—” both once.
Truth be told, there’s not too much content—positive or negative—in this Top 10 country ballad.
Basically, Wallen can’t think about anything but this girl who moved on from him. Clearly wishing he could stop being “a fool” for her, he tries in vain to tell himself these lies, lies, lies.
That said, he still turns to the bottle, swears a bit and includes a few suggestive hints in his lyrics.
All in all, “Lies Lies Lies” is hardly the most problematic country song we’ve ever reviewed. But the lies Morgan Wallen knows he’s telling himself might affect others as well.
Caleb Gottry is the Plugged In intern for Summer 2024. Caleb studies journalism with a minor in music at Texas Christian University, where he will be a junior in the fall. He loves playing with words, listening to and making music, and spending any spare time with friends or family.
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