In the words of Garth Brooks: I like that.
Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest superstars in country music, but his music is also pretty divisive among country fans who often debate just how “country” it really is.
Of course whether something’s “country” isn’t exactly a new debate in the genre. People have been arguing over whether a song is country or not since the “Nashville sound” ditched fiddle and steel for smooth strings and orchestral sounds back in the 1950s, and along the way artists like Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks, Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers and plenty of other legends have found themselves at the center of the debate over what’s country and what’s not.
But Morgan continues to push the boundaries of what’s considered “country” music, infusing trap beats along with pop and hip hop sounds that have resulted in a ton of crossover appeal while also earning him criticism from the fans of traditional country music.
His last album, One Thing At A Time, featured plenty of that hip hop sound, including trap beats on songs like “Ain’t That Some,” “Sunrise,” and “180 (Lifestyle),” while also showcasing an actual country sound on songs like “98 Braves,” “Keith Whitley” and the heartfelt “Thought You Should Know.”
But Morgan says for his next album, he decided to move away from the trap beats.
The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year recently announced his upcoming album I’m the Problem will be dropping on May 16. And during a recent appearance on This Past Weekend with Theo Von, he discussed the importance of growing with your audience:
“It’s just subtle changes. It don’t have to be huge things, you know? My last album I had plenty of trap beats and stuff like that. This time I was like, ‘Hey man, let’s tone that back a little bit.’ I’m tired of it. I’m tired of hearing it. So if I’m tired of it they’re probably tired of hearing it.
It’s just certain things that, you can still get that same swagger, you can accomplish certain things without doing the same exact thing.”
Of course at the same time Morgan’s saying that, he also revealed during the interview that the album will contain a song called “Miami,” which is a reimagination of the Keith Whitley classic “Miami, My Amy” as a rap song…
“I got a song on my record called ‘Miami.’ It’s a Keith Whitley flip… that’s one of his bigger songs, I guess. But we flipped it and turned it into more of a rap style. But it’s cool, I like it.
It seemed like it could use rapper on there, but I didn’t end up using a feature, we ended up just making a second verse. But it’s one of those songs that it wouldn’t be surprising if we got a remix and did that once it’s out.”
Gonna have to disagree with Morgan on that one. I’m not sure that any Keith Whitley song really needs a rapper on it.
So while I’m not exactly pumped to hear “Miami,” it sounds like Morgan might be moving away from some of the trap beats that were so prevalent on the last album. And for me as a fan of Morgan’s more country stuff, I’m hoping that’s good news for the new project.
