Dangerous indeed

 

Morgan Wallen is only 27, yet he has already gone through a lot in his short life — and shorter career. In January, he released his second album, the mammoth 2-disc and 30-track strong (33 with bonuses) Dangerous: The Double Album. The name says it all. And, while the man’s previous record had done very well, reaching the Billboard 200 #10 back in 2018, the success that was to come was somewhat of a surprise: not only did Dangerous start at #1, but it is still there 7 weeks later. Even though Wallen sparked national outrage in the meantime when a video showed him drunkenly using racial slurs…

What happened right after that incident showed that the times were a-changin’, and that even the arguably less progressive Country music world was not having this kind of behavior anymore. Not only did Wallen get promptly taken out of rotation by most major radio networks, but his very label dropped him in a matter of days. Again, all this happened with the man’s album hanging at #1 in the charts… He quickly issued an apology, but the damage was done: racism in this brave new 2021 world is taken more seriously than ever, in music and society at large alike. About time, many would say…

This is not the end of the story, however. In the days that followed the incident and despite radios not playing his songs anymore, Morgan Wallen music consumption still went up. His stream count increased, song downloads from Dangerous went up two thirds, while the album itself had its sales more than double… Wait, there’s more: this 7th consecutive top ranking on the Billboard charts is more than any other Country artist ever achieved, including Garth Brooks who had set the previous record at 6 straight weeks with 1992’s The Chase. If you can beat Garth Brooks, you know that’s rarefied air you’re breathing…

The follow-up question is, quite logically, whether the scandal helped the music, or the music is just that strong. The answer to that is probably — both. Whether you like it or not, Dangerous is a fine album. “7 summers”, one of its breakout hits, is a bona fide gem that displays a remarkable skill at storytelling. Ironically, there are parallels to be made with Ed Sheeran in Wallen’s ability to paint a picture — albeit with different colors: Sheeran doesn’t mention Tennessee that often. At any rate, these are both very young artists who nevertheless manage to convey an incredible amount of humanity in their work. And then there’s the n-word…

In short, while we absolutely do not condone such an incident in any way, shape or form, we do hope that Wallen will be able to evolve with time, fine-tuning his vision of the world towards a more complete picture. That would make his songs all the more interesting…