Is Morgan Wallen the problem with country music?

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Country music stands at a crossroads between tradition and evolution, and no artist embodies this tension better than Morgan Wallen. His song "I'm the Problem" opens with beautiful bluegrass guitar before hitting you with hard-hitting 808 basslines, creating a sonic reflection of country's current identity crisis. Wallen has this uncanny ability to turn his endless personal problems into undeniably catchy hooks that somehow make him more relatable, not less. Despite having every reason to write him off, there's something about his gritty voice and imperfect persona that keeps drawing listeners back. What makes him so compelling, and why his 37-track album dominated the charts, reveals something deeper about what country music is becoming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Switched on Pop comes from Sonos.
0:03.5	There's so many moments in songs that blow your mind every time you hear them.
0:07.7	For me, one of them is the way that when you hear a snare drum, it tells you exactly what
0:13.2	decade the music was made in.
0:15.0	Like, if you hear that big gated reverb, it's obviously the 80s.
0:18.1	If it's super dry, it's the 70s.
0:20.6	Even the way that a drum machine snare drum is processed can tell you if it's like a early 2000s thing or something much more contemporary. And I feel like that kind of musical artistry deserves headphones that can keep up, like the Sonos Ace headphones. They deliver clarity on each note so you can dive deeper than ever before
0:38.8	into all your favorite songs. Here the difference for yourself. Go to sonos.com to learn more.
0:48.9	Stage on pop. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Nate, country music, right now, more than ever, is at a crossroads. It's got a problem. And no one understands that problem better than Morgan Wallen.
1:05.8	I guess I'm the problem. your mess never do no wrong
1:11.6	If I'm so awful
1:13.6	Then why'd you stick around this long
1:16.6	And if it's the whiskey
1:18.6	And why you keep on pulling it off the shelf
1:22.6	You hit the wind, you look at me
1:24.6	You halfway see yourself
1:26.6	And it got me thank you.
1:29.6	If I'm the problem, well, you might be the reason.
1:34.2	So that's the eponymous single off of his new 37-track album.
1:39.8	I'm The Problem.
1:41.6	Are you sure those 37 tracks aren't the problem?
1:44.3	We'll get to that. This album by Morgan Wallen has spent four weeks atop the problem. Are you sure those 37 tracks aren't the problem? We'll get to that.
	...

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