Take one look at my Spotify Wrapped, and three things dominate: Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and a whole lot of country music.
So when they combined for a track on Post Malone’s “F-1 Trillion” album, I was blown away. My favorite song got more than just my personal stamp of approval.
“I Had Some Help” with Post Malone made Rolling Stone’s Top 100 list of best songs of 2024, ranking in at No. 27 on Rolling Stone’s list. As of publication, “I Had Some Help” broke Spotify’s single-day country streaming record and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also placed at No. 1 on Billboard’s 20 Songs of the Summer chart.
This wasn’t the only song that the two cooked up. During the same studio session of producing “I Had Some Help,” Malone headed to Nashville with collaborator Louis Bell, Wallen, Charlie Handsome, ERNEST and Ashley Gorley and collaborated to make more than just that one song, according to Variety
“(I got a) text from the studio on night one saying they had just written nearly seven full songs,” Seth England, CEO of Wallen’s label, Big Loud, remembers.
One of those seven songs, “I Ain’t Coming Back,” was released Friday, this time as a part of Wallen’s upcoming album “I’m The Problem” rather than a Malone led-track like “I Had Some Help.”
“I’m the Problem” is dropping on May 16 now with seven singles out as of publication. The biggest songs so far are “Love Somebody” and “Lies Lies Lies,” both released in 2024. With a whopping 37 songs, it’s Wallen’s biggest album to date, beating “One Thing At a Time” by one song.
With 30 songs still unreleased, there were many questions needing to be answered on what the songs were called and potential features. After the release of “I Ain’t Coming Back,” pop singer Tate McRae posted an orange jersey featuring Wallen’s initials on it, leading fans to suspect that she might appear on the album.
It was then confirmed that McRae would be on the album alongside Eric Church, ERNEST and HARDY. And this change to include McRae — who isn’t a country artist like the others — was confirmed in a press release from Wallen.
“A lot of the concepts and things we said were a little more difficult with this album,” he wrote in a press release. “We were trying to dig deep on things and trying to find new angles. And I feel like we did that. I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that I haven’t said in this record, which I’m really, really proud of.”
The song has a great uptempo instrumental blending both traditional country with contemporary pop, a mainstay for the duo in their attempts in country music to this point. While the instrumental is not as catchy as “I Had Some Help,” the chorus and Malone’s verse still had me tapping my foot.
Wallen has often made headlines not only for his music, but for his behaviors outside of the studio, and he doesn’t shy away from this in the opening verse.
“I’m a redneck/ ‘Cause I drink beer and I dip Skoal/ Guess I’m a rambler/ ‘Cause I can’t not be on the road/ Might be a lost cause/ ‘Cause I’ll be out ‘til the lights are on/ And I’m a gambler/ I’ll take the over on the underdog.”
He shows that he can’t change his redneck tendencies, as well as his wild spirit that he possesses, rather than settling down. Wallen then emphasizes how he also likes to gamble and live on the edge, choosing to “take the over” on the underdog. This change between over and under symbolizes his nature.
With the release of the song being on Good Friday of Easter weekend, the chorus touches on such imagery of Easter weekend while referring to the hypothetical breakup that the two touch on throughout the song.
“But the night I said “I’m leavin,’” I turned into Richard Petty/ Broke my heart, so I got even in my ’97 Chevy/ Now I’m walkin’ on this water, mixed with Johnnie Walker Black/ There’s a lot of reasons I ain’t Jesus/ But the main one is that I ain’t comin’ back/ Oh, no, no, I ain’t comin’ back.”
The song includes Jesus-related imagery, with Wallen and Malone suggesting they feel as though they’re “walkin’ on this water.” In their case, they feel they’re walking on water due to the buzz, but it’s Jonnie Walker Black whiskey. They talk about how there are a lot of reasons they aren’t Jesus, making them the farthest thing from it.
With the controversies that have surrounded Wallen, fans may not be comin’ back for more, but I sure am sure to be comin’ back on May 16 for Wallen’s new album.
