“Not Like I’m The Victim, I’ve Caused A Lot Of It” – Morgan Wallen Says He’s Owning His Mistakes Naming New Album, ‘I’m The Problem’

Owning up to his flaws.

A little over a week ago, Morgan Wallen released his monster, 37-song album I’m The Problem, which has dominated the charts and remained at #1 on the Hot 100 for the two weeks since it has been out. The album debuted at the top of the all-genre Billboard 200 album chart, and landed 6 songs in the top 10 of the all-genre Hot 100 upon its release. It also claimed all 10 spots in the top 10 of the Hot Country Songs chart, the first time an artist has swept the top 10 spots. Love him or hate him, that’s a wild accomplishment.

The focus of the record is obviously on Morgan and his feelings on a lot of the mistakes he’s made in his personal life, and specifically, lots of different relationships, and he admits he wanted to “dig deeper” and really flesh out all of the concepts he had for each song:

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s New Music Daily Show, (skip to the last 20 mins) Morgan talked about the album title and how it represented a moment of deep self-reflection and owning his flaws:

“Well, I think there was a little bit of playing into just everything I’ve been through in my life… not like I’m the victim or anything, I’ve caused a lot of it, you know? And I think that’s my way of accepting that responsibility and saying, ‘Hey, maybe I am the problem sometimes’. There was also a moment, where I thought just because of some of the recent changes and things that I’ve done in my life, this might be the last time I get to honestly play that part, you know? I don’t know that for a fact, I just live day by day, but that just seems to be where I’m at as a man… so maybe just one last time of being that guy.”

And interesting point no doubt… this may sorta be the “end of an era” for Morgan Wallen, who has settled down quite a bit in his personal life. It means all those reflective “I messed up” kind if songs may be coming to an end since he’s not out there messing up anymore. He also added that he usually likes the tour after the album and that it also sounded like a great name for a tour.

I think we all know about a lot of his very public issues over the last several years, from the racial slur incident in 2021 that had him blacklisted from country radio, banned from award shows and suspended from his label, to more recently, when Wallen was arrested for the infamous chair-throwing incident at Chief’s, and other things in between those occurrences, Morgan has definitely become a polarizing figure.

He has certainly grown from those mistakes, and he admits openly that he still doesn’t have it all figured out, though he has actively worked on identifying problems in his life, whether it be the kinds of people he is, and was, around, as well as more personal, introspective issues he has worked through. Morgan explained that he has a much more clear perspective on everything at this point now in his 30s after coming into high levels of fame relatively quickly.

Morgan says he had to “take a step back” from things that were clouding his vision, and he has never seen things as clearly as he does now (cutting back on the cold ones will have that effect on you), which has bled into the music you hear on I’m The Problem:

“Yeah, I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and act like I’ve got it all figured out, you know, because I definitely don’t. But I think I’ve identified things and people…those two things combined, I think I’ve identified problems that I don’t really want to partake in anymore, and I’m able to see a lot more clearly now once you take a step back from a couple of those things that are cloudy-ing your vision. And for me this is probably as clear as I’ve seen the world in my entire life.

If I were to go an make a terrible mistake or do something stupid right now, more than likely I wouldn’t have any excuse. Back then, I always had some kind of excuse…’That really wasn’t me,’ you know, ‘I would never actually do that.’ I always had some kind of crutch or some kind of thing to blame it on… I don’t have that right now. So it’s a different place, it’s maybe a little more pressure, but I also feel a lot more powerful, too.”

He echoed those sentiments while talking with Kelleigh Bannen on Today’s Country Radio, saying that he’s always prided himself on “taking accountability for what I do,” adding that the album title is “a big stamp on that” and something he wants the world to understand about him:

“I think it’s just, at this point in my life, to me, and I’ve said this maybe before, but this feels like… I don’t know the future, I’m really taking things day by day. But it feels like, just the sway that my life is taking me and where I’m at as a man, it just seems like it might be the last time I really get to honestly say that as a person. I’ve always prided myself on taking accountability for what I do, and this is just a big stamp on that for me.”

It kind of feels like Morgan’s trying to beat some of the haters to the punch, so to speak, by openly admitting in many of the songs and obviously the album as a whole that he knows he isn’t perfect and understands that he’s a flawed individual who makes plenty of mistakes… while some of the criticism, negative press and attention has been very warranted, not all of it is, and I can’t say I blame him for just laying it down and admitting to everyone he’s in on it too, and self-aware enough to at least own up to his mistakes.

I’ve seen a lot of articles, including the ridiculous one about him being “MAGA coded,” and many make the argument that the album title was more or less of a “middle finger” to the haters, almost a sarcastic approach, but Morgan says it’s quite the opposite… it’s a confession.

Like I’ve said before, I think the album is way too long and could’ve been cut down to a solid 13 or 14 songs at most, but there’s a few good ones on there that I’ve had on repeat:

“Number 3 and Number 7”

“I Got Better”

“The Dealer”

You can watch the full interview with Kelleigh Bannen here:

The post “Not Like I’m The Victim, I’ve Caused A Lot Of It” – Morgan Wallen Says He’s Owning His Mistakes Naming New Album, ‘I’m The Problem’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.