Morgan Wallen, a currently skyrocketing modern country artist, captivates listener’s with his new 2021 album, “Dangerous: The Double Album.” His album’s name is rightfully fitting as it is packed with 30 songs. 

Some songs make you feel like “Get out of my way, I’m country” and others are “I’m going for a drive at sunset, windows down, gentle music loud.” 

A few songs, like “Cover Me Up,” “More Than My Hometown,” and “7 Summers,” are ones that he released earlier as singles in 2019 and 2020, each of which were highly listened to.

With so many good songs I have a difficult time choosing favorites. As of this morning, however, “865” was playing over and over again in my head. 

This song, like “Something Country” and “Livin’ the Dream,” is catchy because of the easily riding chorus in each. One verse smoothly flows into the next. While stylistically these songs may be similar, their rhythms and conveyed emotions are entirely different. 

In “865,” Wallen’s easygoing heartache song has him drinking and daydreaming, whereas the more upbeat song “Something Country” feels much more like he’s being in the here and now, owning everything he’s got without an ounce of redneck shame. 

Wallen’s career began with him performing on the television series “The Voice” after turning to music when he suffered an injury ending his outlooking baseball career. Though he didn’t win “The Voice,” his music continued, and he gained a lot of recognition in 2018 when his first true hit “Whiskey Glasses” painted him as an auspicious and uprising country artist. 

Wallen reminds me of a blend between Brett Young and Kip Moore. Wallen’s rise to fame is a story similar to Young as they both had strong, potential baseball careers that were ended due to injuries. They both turned their attention to music afterward, and soared. 

Wallen’s relation with Moore is that they share the same style of vocals, being rich in tone but with a smoky edge. Wallen combines this all together to create a modernized style of soft rock country. It’s a style that’s already broken records this year and has created new standards for the rest of country music. 

Wallen’s alcohol struggles are also sung about a handful of times throughout the album, particularly in “Dangerous.” In the song Wallen touches on the subject of drinking when thinking about a girl that’s no longer his, and with the opening verse placing him in the back of a cop car due to his drinking, the song dives right into his background.

However, each chorus then talks about him choosing not to go out like that anymore at night, choosing not to drink to get over hurt, since that could be dangerous. 

There are several times throughout the album, also in “Livin’ the Dream,” where he sings about being “in and out of cop cars,” and fame not being as easy as it seems, but his title song “Dangerous” appears to be him turning over a new leaf. 

The consistent style of Wallen but the perfect variations between his songs are most likely one of the greatest contributors to the success of this album. An added bonus to keep in mind is that Wallen is only 27, which more than likely means numerous albums to come. 

Considering how this album has taken off, he’s got an enormous audience excitedly and patiently waiting for what he could possibly release next.

“‘Dangerous’ is now Spotify’s biggest all-time first day stream record for a country album as Wallen reigns #1 globally and in the U.S. on Spotify’s top debut’s charts.” – Spotify

“Staking its claim as the #1 top country album in 62 countries worldwide.” – Apple Music

“In two days, ‘Dangerous’ has set the record for the biggest first day and biggest first week country album of all-time on the platform.” – Apple Music