REVIEW: The best of Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time”

Morgan Wallen’s latest album “One Thing at a Time” generated 498.28 million official streams in the U.S. in the first four days of the album’s dropping. With 36 tracks, this album isn’t your stereotypical country. It generates a good mood, and it incorporates a little hip-hop into it as well. This made the album the fifth largest streaming week for any album and the biggest for any country album, also scoring the biggest debut week of any album since Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” album. 

Man Made A Bar

This song creates a story about God’s creation and how God created the Earth and man, and that once the man got lonely, he created women. However God didn’t make a place for man to go when a woman breaks his heart, so man made a bar. The song appeared on 2 charts for 16 weeks and peaked at number 15 in the United States. 

Don’t Think Jesus

This song is about second chances and shows that nobody is perfect in another’s point of view. He reflects this song on Jesus’ love and wisdom and each verse puts a twist on “I don’t think Jesus done it that way.” He reflects on this song and paints a picture stating that he has gone through consequences for his actions and is ready to move on. He incorporates his own actions into this song like him living in the fast lane until he couldn’t anymore. The song shows that everyone has their struggles and nobody is perfect. 

’98 Braves

Wallen creates a visual of his baseball career in high school where he had hoped to play in college until an elbow injury took his senior year from him. He relates this to the Atlanta Braves, a 106-win team that came up short in the postseason, taken away by the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series. He compares this baseball game to one of his past relationships that should’ve ended with a ring “If we were a team, and love was a game we’d have been the ‘98 Braves.”

Thought You Should Know

Wallen makes this song serve as a thank you letter to his mom for all of her love, support, and prayers for him throughout the tribulations of his life and career. He takes a moment to appreciate everything his mom has done for him and he says it’s about time she knew. He takes a look back at his life and feels proud about the way he has been able to turn some things around for him as if his mother’s prayers have caught up to him. He feels the need that his mother can finally be proud of him too. 

Ain’t That Some 

This song celebrates country life with its prideful references to a simpler and rural way of living. It creates nostalgia when reflecting on memories of growing up in the countryside going out with “back home buddies in a field, mud on the wheels.” This song encourages embracing and being proud of where you came from. It focuses on memories of growing up in small towns and encourages listeners to embrace their home roots and celebrate their rural hometowns. 

The rest of the album is also outstanding as Wallen’s authentic storytelling shines. Fans can catch Morgan Wallen at Ford Field June 29th and 30th with  fellow country artists Hardy, Earnest, and Bailey Zimmerman.