Morgan Wallen: country legend or cancelled and unrepentant? The singer stirred controversy with arrests and racist slurs, but then came record-breaking albums and that Drake collab …

Jan 17 , 2024

Morgan Wallen went from reality shows to record-breaking album sales and mega-stardom, then got cancelled – now he’s seemingly rehabilitated his reputation with a little help from Drake. Photo: @champagnepapi/Instagram

After impressing judges Usher and Shakira on The Voice, he launched a career in music but hit a bad patch in the pandemic including being caught on video using the N-word

Spotify says Dangerous: The Double Album was the third-most streamed in the US in 2022, while 2023’s One Thing at a Time made him the first country act to have five songs from one album in the Billboard top 10

Morgan Wallen is a musician who’s hard to pin down. He’s a country star but also a pop sensation. He got cancelled, but broke records at the same time. He was caught making racist comments and his apology was pretty weak. He pledged money to Black-led causes but nobody can say for sure whether he actually followed through. And yet he remains popular, even likeable.

As public sentiment swings back and forth, Wallen has made another abrupt turn, surprising many with a collaboration with Drake.

So, country, pop and hip-hop, all while being supposedly cancelled, or not, as the case may be? Meet the moustached enigma that is Morgan Wallen.

Morgan Wallen’s rise to stardom

Country music star Morgan Wallen. Photo: @morganwallen/Instagram

In 2014, Wallen was a 20-year-old landscaper working in Knoxville, Tennessee. He entered The Voice and impressed judges Usher and Shakira with his rendition of Howie Days’ “Collide”.

He got knocked out during the playoffs but signed a music contract with Big Loud Records two years after appearing in the competition, per US magazine. His 2018 debut album, If I Know Me, saw the musician reinvent himself, with the New Yorker writing that not only did he find his voice, but he also became a sex symbol to many.

Sparking controversy

Morgan Wallen appears very much a country boy at heart. Photo: @morganwallen/Instagram

Along with the fame, came the scrutiny. First, in 2020, he was arrested outside Kid Rock’s Nashville bar, Big Honky Tonk, for public intoxication. He was later cleared of the charges. Then, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, he was filmed breaking protocols and partying it up in Alabama.

He then faced the biggest controversy of his fledgling career after TMZ published a video of him saying the N-word in February 2021. The racist slur saw his career hit a wall. He was suspended from his record label for a while, barred from some awards shows and faced immense public backlash.

Although he apologised for his racist behaviour, Wallen divided even his fans: some found it hard to forgive him while others remained loyal. In an apology video shared on Instagram, the singer said he had been on a “72-hour bender” and was “not proud” of his behaviour. “I let so many people down. I’m the furthest thing from the person in that video,” he said.