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Critics often remark that “The Voice” hasn’t produced any superstars. But some people forget that country singer, Morgan Wallen, actually got his start on “The Voice.”
Wallen competed in season 6 of the popular NBC talent competition, in 2014. For his blind audition, he sang Howie Day’s “Collide” and got two red chairs to turn: Shakira’s and Usher’s.
WATCH Morgan Wallen’s Blind Audition
His original goal was to be a professional baseball player, but after an injury, he decided to pursue singing, something he had always loved. “I don’t want to go home and just be that normal landscaper guy again” he confessed in his pre-audition interview.
After Wallen finished singing, Usher and Shakira were being so polite about trying to get Wallen on their team, that Adam Levine called it a “love fest,” got up and sat on Blake Shelton’s lap. Shakira quipped, “that’s another kind of love.”
Usher told Wallen, “there were some moments in your performance that I felt like, they were not properly executed” and Wallen agreed. He ended up choosing Usher as his coach. After he got eliminated during the battle rounds, Adam Levine stole him. However, he ended up getting sent home in the first round of the playoffs, according to Nikki Swift.com.
Although he didn’t win “The Voice,” Wallen actually sees that as a positive thing. He told People, “I’m thankful that I didn’t win because it gave me a chance to take a couple years after that show and really figure out who I was as an artist and get the right team around me.”
Wallen also told People that he “didn’t even know what ‘The Voice’ was” when he auditioned. “It was a big first step,” he expressed. “I guess that’s the first time in my life where I realized that maybe I actually have a shot at this.”
Wallen Has Had an ‘Up Down’ Experience
Since his appearance on “The Voice,” Wallen has risen to be a country music superstar. His first major single, which dropped three years after “The Voice,” in 2017, and included the help of Florida Georgia Line, had an apt title: “Up Down.”
The next year, in 2018, he released his life-changing hit, “Whiskey Glasses” which, as of 2022, was certified 7x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). However, Wallen’s journey to stardom has not been without its pitfalls.
According to People, in May 2020, Wallen got arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped, Wallen publicly apologized and the incident was soon forgotten. However, his next transgression was not as easily brushed aside.
In February, 2021, TMZ released a video in which Wallen was talking with his friends and used “the N word.” The video came from a neighbor’s doorbell cam. This caused a firestorm on social media, which lead to Wallen publicly apologizing again, this time with much more fervor.
Wallen told People he was “embarrassed and sorry,” adding, “there are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.” According to the outlet, “The following morning, his music was pulled from the two major radio station networks, he was ‘indefinitely’ suspended by his label and he was made ineligible for the ACM Awards [that] spring.”
A week later, Wallen posted a video on Instagram in which he took complete ownership of what he had done, and also announced that he was now nine days sober. He said, “Our words matter and I just want to encourage anyone watching to please learn from my mistake. There’s no reason to downplay what I did, it matters.”
Wallen managed to bounce back from the scandal, and is once again a beloved country artist. Although everything is not entirely forgiven and forgotten, Wallen was invited to perform at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, where he sang a song he wrote about his fall from grace called, “Don’t Think Jesus,” according to a May 15, 2022 article in People.
People also reports that in April, Wallen won album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) for “Dangerous: The Double Album.”
In addition, “At the Billboard Music Awards, the ‘7 Summers” singer — who is currently in the midst of a 46-city arena tour that will continue through September — is up for top country artist, top country male artist, top Billboard 200 artist and top Billboard 200 album for Dangerous: The Double Album. Wallen took home top country male artist at the show,” People reports.
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