Morgan Wallen just-released his much-anticipated new double album, Dangerous, on Friday (Jan.8) and we compiled a list of 11 fun facts about the project.
•Thomas Rhett And Eric Church Co-Wrote On The Album
Rhett co-written two songs including “Whiskey’d My Way” and “Your Bartender.” Church co-wrote one song called “Quittin’ Time.”
•The Double Album Started As A Joke
“The ‘double album’ idea started off as just a joke between me and my manager because we had accumulated so many songs over the past couple of years,” Wallen told Country Now. “Then quarantine hit, and we realized it might actually be possible to have enough time to make it happen.”
•”Cover Me Up” Is Actually A Cover Song
Wallen’s version of “Cover Me Up” is actually a cover song. The original song is by Jason Isbell.
•Dangerous Is The First Country Album To Be Released In 2021
Released on January 8 via Big Loud/Republic Records.
•The Phone Number Wallen References In “865” Is A Working Number
If you call the phone number that Wallen sings about in his new song “865,” it is an actual working number that connects you to a business called U.S. TelePunch. During the song he sings, “This bottle tastes like 865-409-1021.”
Upon calling you are greeted with the recorded message, “Welcome to U.S. TelePunch. Let’s get started by entering your four-digit company code.”
•Wallen Enlisted Several Fellow Country Artists And Some Of The Most Prolific Songwriters In Nashville
The album not only included a duet with superstar Chris Stapleton but it also included some of Nashville’s most prolific songwriters and fellow country stars including Thomas Rhett, Eric Church, HARDY, Ernest, Devin Dawson, Ryan Hurd, Niko Moon, Rhett Akins, Jason Isbell, Diplo, Josh Osborne, Ashley Gorley, Josh Thompson, Dallas Davidson, Shane McAnally to name a few.
•The Album Leaked One Week Ahead Of Its Scheduled Release
Walmart leaked Wallen’s album an entire week ahead of its scheduled release date. The leak went viral when fans in states like North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Wisconsin and more began sharing images and videos of the new album in their hands and snippets of new songs.
Wallen replied to the leak saying “It’s been brought to my attention that some of my music, well my album has leaked at some Walmart’s around the country,” Wallen began to tell fans in a new clip. “I don’t know how that’s possible but it has and also that some of y’all are posting and trying to spread the new music which i’m super thankful for, I’m glad you’re eager to do that but man I’ve been working on this album for 3 years and i’d be damned if I let Walmart do the leaking like that so if y’all don’t care just keep up with me on here, whether it’s TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or whatever.” The singer continued, “I’m going to start doing the leaking of the songs myself. So, y’all just keep up with me, I don’t know, it’s kind of messed up but I don’t shop at Walmart anyway. I also gave Target two extra songs, so if you’re gonna buy my album physically, goto Target baby.”
He then went on to leak his own music by sharing several brand new unreleased songs via his TikTok.
According to Rolling Stone, Walmart recently apologized to Wallen for the leak saying they are “deeply apologetic to Morgan for this unfortunate situation.” A spokesperson for the retail giant explained that the leak only happened in “less than 10” of their 4,000 stores nationwide and that they are “actively removing any albums remaining on the shelves in those stores to hold until the official release date, and taking additional precautionary measures for the future.”
“We appreciate Morgan as an artist and understand his frustration and disappointment. We have protocols in place to help ensure new albums are not sold before the release date, yet in this instance his album made its way to the shelf in a handful of stores early,” a Walmart spokesperson added.
•It Took Three Years To Complete The Album
•Favorite Song Wallen’s Ever Written Appears On The Album
Wallen told iHeartCountry that his favorite song that he’s ever written would be a track called “Livin’ The Dream” that lives on his new album.
“It shows a different side of all the glamorous things that I get to be apart of too and I didn’t write that song for pity or for anyone to feel sorry for me,” Wallen explained. “I just wanted to show a different side, everybody thinks that you know you get so far, you get famous and that everything’s just awesome and most of it is but I just wanted people to see the different side of that and I feel like we accomplished it with that song.”
•Dangerous Was A Song He Wrote To Himself Following His Nashville Arrest
The superstar explained to iHeartCountry that the title track to the album was written following his arrest in Nashville.
“Dangerous is a song that me and Ernest wrote a little bit after I got arrested in Nashville. Obviously, it wasn’t anything super serious, but it was kind of a song that I wrote to myself in a way, if you read the lyrics and think of it that way I think it would make sense. We through a little bit of a love interest in there as well just to make it more universal. To where people could throw their own story into it but for me it was a song I wrote to myself of how maybe what causes things to get Dangerous for me. I don’t know this whole year has been wild, and I don’t know just a lot of things going on in my life, good and bad, and some of those resulted in me being me and doing things that are Dangerous and I just felt that it really spoke to the process and just my life in general over the past couple years, so it just seemed like it made sense.”
•Both Sides Of The Album Have Different Meanings
Wallen told ET Canada that side A of the new album is a more personal look at his life, while side B is more of a rowdy, party side of him.
“The first side is more of a personal look into my life and things that have happened — relationships, that kind of stuff. And then the second side is a little bit more rowdy, redneck, party side of things.”