by Luke Eggers
March 29, 2021
Natural law dictates that popular culture will always critique its biggest stars. The lives of more recent musical sensations are easy targets for scrutiny. Nobody is perfect; we would all generally agree on that principle. But cancel culture, the most recent toxic trend in the west, has become a daunting reality for the famous and fortunate in 2021.
The questionable behavioral patterns of artists like Ryan Adams and R. Kelley completely derailed their careers and ruined their legacies. With culture chomping at the bit for the next star to make their fall from grace, it is rare for an artist’s career to escape controversy unscathed. Morgan Wallen’s second record, Dangerous: The Double Album, is an example of this phenomenon.
The gargantuan 33 song album is an explosive hit-seeking missile. The highly anticipated sequel to Wallen’s 2018 work If I Know Me remained number one on the Billboard Top 200 for 10 straight weeks after its release. That run is the longest run a country album has had at number one since 1992.
The album is fantastic. There are few — if any — obviously skippable tunes on the entire track. So why is it a cultural anomaly? Wallen was toppled a month after the album’s release when his use of a racial slur went viral on social media. It was the latest and most controversial blunder in his wild personal life.
It might have seemed like Wallen’s career would vanish into thin air, but that’s not what happened. The incident — which he promptly apologized for — did not derail his career nor his new album’s success. It remained on top of the charts and amassed over 1.3 million sales and 1.4 billion streams worldwide since its release.
Wallen is young, and his stardom is still pretty recent. There’s only one explanation for why Dangerous remained a success: the music is just too dang good.
Wallen doesn’t rely on complicated, exciting melodies to crank out instant hits. Instead, he is a great lyrical storyteller. Songs like “Whisky’d My Way” and “Your Bartender” have simple rhythms and chord progressions, but have listeners hooked by their undeniably relatable message.
The country icon has a vocal quality compatible with very few other country music artists. It is most noticeable on tracks like “Country A$$ Shit” and “Chasin You” where his raspy Tennesee twang is drawn out and pleasantly exposed. The same grainy tone that amplifies an indefinable quality of country culture in his more up-tempo songs also evokes a soothing sensation in the slower pieces.
Wallen is obviously no stranger to heartbreak. The first half of the double album is almost strictly songs about mistakes, regrets, and lost love. The latter half contains more songs about his southern heritage and have an unapologetic redneck quality to them. Songs like “Somethin Country” and “Need a Boat” have a high-tempo, hip-hop feel that Wallen uses in a unique way, but they pale in comparison to his more heartfelt tracks.
Florida Georgia Line and Chris Stapleton — artists that coincidentally have a similar sound as Wallen — both make featured appearances on the album. “Warning” with Florida Georgia Line is Dangerous’s best country/hip-hop crossover on the album; it is a sound that FGL is famous for. “Only Thing That’s Gone” possesses the record’s most dynamic guitar solo which is obviously performed by Stapleton.
Overall, Dangerous: The Double Album has a classic country message that the genre is craving these days. Morgan Wallen is one of the only artists capable of bridging the gap between a modern country sound and the essential message of traditional country music.
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