“It Was a Special Moment for Me, and Something I’ll Never Forget”: Morgan Wallen Changes His Habits in Music and Life With “I’m the Problem”

Morgan Wallen will release his highly anticipated 37-song album I’m The Problem on Friday.
However, fans shouldn’t expect more of the same.

Wallen has removed his whiskey glasses. Not only does Wallen say he hasn’t been in a bar since the last time everyone knows he was in a bar, but he’s also not singing songs about whiskey. Wallen co-wrote 22 of the 37 songs and dedicated himself to not making albums identical to the ones he made before. If he started writing a song that sounded too similar to something he’s already recorded, he cut it off.

“That was something that was tougher for me because a lot of the things that were successful and that were easy in the past were just whiskey drinking, and all that stuff,” Wallen said on Theo Von’s podcast. “I’ve kind of just almost explored every angle of that that’s possible. I tried to dig deeper.”

Wallen had a group of five or six guys to whom he explained what he wanted to do with this album. And while they didn’t always write together, the men knew what he was trying to accomplish.

“It’s just trying not to say the same thing that I’ve said before and incorporating new things,” he said of writing songs for I’m The Problem. “I feel like it was harder. I had to work harder.”

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Morgan Wallen: “I’m Just Trying Not to Say the Same Thing”

Many times when a writer pitched him a song or approached him with a song idea, Wallen immediately knew the person had conjured it based on his last album.

“I’ve heard ‘Wasted On You’ 2.0 18,000 times,” Wallen said. “I understand it, but you can’t settle like that. You also don’t want to go too far, either. Then your fans are like, ‘Dude, what’s he doing?’”

Sometimes, Wallen could find a way to flip the concept on its ear, turn it into something unique, and make it work. Sometimes he couldn’t. Wallen found that subtle changes could make a significant impact.

“My last album, I had plenty of trap beats,” he told Von. “This time I was like, ‘Hey man, let’s tone that back a little bit. I’m tired of hearing it. So, if I’m tired of it, they’re probably tired of hearing it. You can accomplish certain things without doing the same exact thing. It’s just simple stuff like that.”

Wallen already knows at least one person likes his new songs – and it’s possibly the most important person in his life, his 4-year-old son, Indigo. The singer said his little boy is just now figuring out that it’s him singing those songs. Although sometimes, he’s wrong. Wallen laughed that Indigo thought he sang John Michael Montgomery’s “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” and called it “Daddy’s fast song.” He eventually corrected him. The boy did latch onto one of Wallen’s new songs, and the chart-topper couldn’t be more pleased. Wallen wrote “Eyes Are Closed” with John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, and Ryan Vojtesak. He came home the night they finished it and had it playing in the background. It was the first time he’d heard the demo, and Indigo asked Wallen what it was.

Indigo is Connecting the Dots

“After it was done, he said, ‘I like that song, Daddy,’” Wallen said. “It was like the first time he had ever done that. It was a special moment for me, and something I’ll never forget. He said, ‘Play that again.’ I was like, ‘This song’s a hit for me, no matter what. That was the first time I had really seen him start connecting the dots.”

Wallen released his debut EP in 2015 and has been on a meteoric rise for the last decade. He recently became the first in history to have two albums that spent over 100 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.

His new album inspired his 2025 I’m The Problem Tour. The East Tennessee native will launch his run of stadiums on June 20 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Wallen’s 20-show run will include stops in Seattle, Washington; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Toronto, Ontario, and more.

I’m The Problem Tracklist (songwriters in italics):

1. I’m The Problem (Morgan Wallen, Grady Block, Jamie McLaughlin, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
   
2. I Got Better (Morgan Wallen, Blake Pendergrass, Chase McGill, Ryan Vojtesak, Ernest Keith Smith, Michael Hardy)
   
3. Superman (Morgan Wallen, Ryan Vojtesak, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, James Maddocks)
   
4. What I Want (feat. Tate McRae) (Morgan Wallen, Tate McRae, John Byron, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Ryan Vojtesak, Joe Reeves)
   
5. Just In Case (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith, John Byron, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Ryan Vojtesak, Josh Thompson, Blake Pendergrass, Alex Bak)
   
6. Interlude (Morgan Wallen, Ryan Vojtesak, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, Rocky Block)
   
7. Falling Apart (Morgan Wallen, Blake Pendergrass, Josh Thompson, Ryan Vojtesak)
   
8. Skoal, Chevy, and Browning (Joe Fox, Chase McGill, Josh Miller)
   
9. Eyes Are Closed (Morgan Wallen, John Byron, Blake Pendergrass, Ryan Vojtesak)
   
10. Kick Myself (Morgan Wallen, Rocky Block, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, James Maddocks)
    
11. 20 Cigarettes (Chris LaCorte, Chase McGill, Blake Pendergrass, Josh Miller)
    
12. TN (Morgan Wallen, John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Chase McGill, Taylor Phillips, Ryan Vojtesak, Geoff Warburton)
    
13. Missing (Morgan Wallen, Chase McGill, Josh Thompson, Blake Pendergrass, Ryan Vojtesak, Luis Witkiewitz)
    
14. Where’d That Girl Go (Morgan Wallen, Rocky Block, John Byron, Ryan Vojtesak, Blake Pendergrass, Joe Reeves, Geoff Warburton)
    
15. Genesis (Morgan Wallen, John Byron, Rocky Block, Jacob Durrett, Blake Pendergrass, Ryan Vojtesak, James Maddocks)
    
16. Revelation (Trannie Anderson, Rodney Clawson, Nicolle Galyon, Chris Tompkins)
    
17. Number 3 and Number 7 (feat. Eric Church) (Rocky Block, Blake Pendergrass)
    
18. Kiss Her In Front Of You (John Byron, Jaxson Free, Taylor Phillips, Ashley Gorley, Ryan Vojtesak)
    
19. If You Were Mine (Chris Tompkins, Jessie Jo Dillon, David Garcia, Geoff Warburton)
    
20. Don’t We (Morgan Wallen, Ryan Vojtesak, Ashley Gorley, Rocky Block, Blake Pendergrass, John Byron)
    
21. Come Back As A Redneck (feat. HARDY) (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, Michael Hardy, James Maddocks)
    
22. Love Somebody (Morgan Wallen, John Byron, Shaun Frank, Nicholas Gale, Ashley Gorley, Yaakov Gruzman, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Elof Loelv, Steve Francis Richard Mastroianni, Martina Sorbara, Ryan Vojtesak)
    
23. Dark Til Daylight (Rocky Block, Chris Tompkins, Jimmy Robbins)
    
24. The Dealer (feat. ERNEST) (Blake Pendergrass)
    
25. Leavin’s The Least I Could Do (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Josh Miller, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
    
26. Jack and Jill (Jacob Hackworth, Jared Mullins, Ned Cameron)
    
27. I Ain’t Comin’ Back (feat. Post Malone) (Morgan Wallen, Louis Bell, Michael Hardy, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
    
28. Nothin’ Left (Josh Miller, Greylan James, Matt Jenkins)
    
29. Drinking Til It Does (Josh Thompson, Jimmy Robbins)
    
30. Smile (Morgan Wallen, Rocky Block, John Byron, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, Luis Witkiewitz)
    
31. Working Man’s Song (Morgan Wallen, Ryan Vojtesak, Josh Miller, Blake Pendergrass, Rocky Block)
    
32. Whiskey In Reverse (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, Michael Hardy)
    
33. Crazy Eyes (Chris Tompkins, Josh Miller, Jessie Jo Dillon, Daniel Ross)
    
34. LA Night (Chris Tompkins, Travis Wood, Josh Miller)
    
35. Miami (Morgan Wallen, Ryan Vojtesak, Ernest Keith Smith, Blake Pendergrass, Chase McGill, Michael Hardy, Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran, Royce Porter)
    
36. Lies Lies Lies (Jessie Jo Dillon, Josh Miller, Daniel Ross, Chris Tompkins)
    
37. I’m A Little Crazy (Michael Hardy, Smith Ahnquist, Hunter Phelps, Jameson Rodgers)

(photo by Spidey Smith)