After weeks away from the spotlight, Morgan Wallen has returned to social media with a hand-written letter to his fans.
The singer/songwriter began the deeply personal note by thanking his fans for standing by him and went on to share his gratitude to them for taking his album, Dangerous: The Double Album, to the top of the Billboard 200 chart for 10 consecutive weeks.
He then opened up about his time away from the spotlight and shared that he’s “really worked on myself” throughout the past few months.
— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) April 13, 2021
Wallen revealed that he has decided to remove himself from his scheduled appearance throughout the summer, including his spot on Luke Bryan’s tour, and encouraged fans to continue to go to the events.
“Country music is back and that’s a beautiful damn thing,” he wrote.
The East Tennessee native closed his post by letting fans know that his “story is far from over” and promised, “you’ll be seeing me sooner than later.”
Wallen’s letter comes just one day after his fans purchased six billboards around Nashville to support him. Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album notched a record-breaking 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, despite industry backlash.
Wallen broke his silence on his use of the N-word with a lengthy apology video shared to social media. During his video message, Wallen asked his fans to stop defending him and promised he was ready to face the consequences of his actions.
“I have one favor to ask, I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me but for today, please don’t. I was wrong,” he said. “It’s on me to take ownership for this and I fully accept any penalties I’m facing.”
Wallen has faced extensive backlash following his use of the racial slur. On February 3, one day after the TMZ video surfaced, his label, Big Loud, revealed that his recording contract had been suspended indefinitely. Additionally, his music was pulled from hundreds of radio stations across the country and removed from major playlists across various DSPs, including Spotify and Apple Music. Since then, however, his music has been slowly reinstated on some radio and digital platforms.
The Academy of Country Music revealed that he is ineligible for the upcoming ACM Awards and will not be invited to participate in the show. His content and appearances were also removed from CMT and the Country Music Association and Wallen was dropped by his booking agent, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME).
Read his full statement below:
“Hey guys… First of all I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me during this time. I have felt a lot of love lately from many individuals I have met and from so many people I haven’t gotten to know yet. I know my corner hasn’t been the most popular one to stand in recently, but many of you did anyway.
So many things have happened since I’ve had to talk to my fans. I haven’t even had a chance to share my feelings on what has happened with my music and the Dangerous album, and it’s important to me that I do that first to y’all.
When I made the music, It was important to me that I wrote songs that were authentic, and some of them even let you in on my story. Before the music came out, I was proud of it. I felt fulfilled. As a musician that is the best feeling in the world, being happy with your music before fans even hear it. If you feel that way, then you can live with the reaction, I guess.
Then to release this project and watch y’all make a country album go 10 consecutive weeks No. 1 all genre, is literally unheard of. That’s never happened before from what I’m told, I didn’t even know that record existed to be honest. It wasn’t what I set out to accomplish, but your response has meant so so much to me. I just want you to know how much that means to me, and it always will.
I would have been so proud of this album had it not done any of those things, but it did. I’m so aware that it was you all who have bought it and played it as much as you have, so I truly feel I share this honor with you. I will always Feel the need to show that gratitude, so thank you. I’ve read stories of what some of the songs mean to some of you, and truth be told that’s the best Accolade there is. I had to write some of the songs to get them off my heart, so to see them Landing in yours makes me feel connected to y’all. A feeling I think we all long for deep down.
2020… Man, what a tough year for so many. For me, my tough year carried into 2021. I’ve made some mistakes, I’m figuring those out, and I apologize because I was truly sorry and have been making my amends.
I wanted to let you guys know that I’ve taken a couple months away and feel like I’ve really worked on myself. I’m proud of the work I’ve put in, and in many ways thankful to have had the time to do it. I’ve never needed this time off. I moved to Nashville at 22. I never really gave myself a chance to survey the man I became during that time. I can already see a big difference between 22 year old me and 27 year old me. I hope there’s a big difference between the twenty-seven-year-old me now and the 32 year-old me one day. I will always strive to be better. Not only has this time revealed to me the ways in which I want to improve, but it’s also reminded me that I am still very proud of who I am and the man I am becoming.
I found this time away to be very valuable to me in many ways, but I feel like I need a little more of it, and therefore will not be performing tour dates this summer. It means I won’t to be playing festivals or the Luke Bryan tour dates. But it’s important to me personally, if you can, still go to the shows and support country music. Country music is back and that’s a beautiful damn thing.
I’m back in Nashville getting back in the swing of things and you guys can rest assured that I am looking forward to giving you guys what you deserve, especially after all you’ve done for me. My story is far from over and getting back out to see y’all is all I can think about. So just know you’ll be seeing me sooner than later.”
