![]() ![]() ![]() Dangerous’ big and breezy title track is a maximalist flip of the angular art-pop that packed out Scottish indie discos in the ’80s, and the booming drums and ’80s synths of “This Bar” wouldn’t sound out of place on Taylor Swift’s Red. “That was seven summers of coke./And Southern Comfort,” he sings, a hook that plays innocently enough for country radio but holds a knowing wink for those who really like to rage.Īs Wallen’s audience has broadened, so has his taste. The daydream is not without bite: Wallen spells out the lyrics’ double meaning with a stand-up comic’s knack for timing. Wallen’s biggest crossover hit to date, the Shane McAnally co-write “ 7 Summers,” is lit by the rosy glow of lost love. He has a riddler’s ear for wordplay and an enchantment with the everyday that makes “dodging potholes in my sunburnt Silverado,” as he sings on the piano-led opener “Sand in My Boots,” sound downright alluring. Take the tongue-twisting lines that open “Somebody’s Problem,” a tender ballad to a free-spirited woman that’s among Dangerous’ very best songs: “A ’Bama-red 4Runner pulled into the party/With a 30A sticker on the back windshield,” he sings, an image so vivid you can practically smell the gasoline. ![]() Part of what makes Wallen’s writing so magnetic is the easy, idiomatic shorthand that plunges you directly into his world. With its rousing chorus and super-sized guitar solo, “Silverado for Sale” makes a love song to a truck feel fresh, as Wallen realizes, glassy-eyed, that his memories are etched into each wrinkle of its bench seat. For all their intimacy, these are songs made to fill football stadiums Dangerous’ sole producer Joey Moi provides a sheen that can make Wallen’s music feel as epic as anything by Adele. On “865,” he is a poet laureate of boozy desperation, coming closer to drunk-dialing with each shot on the Thomas Rhett co-write “Whiskey’d My Way,” he has the pathos of a wounded pup, apologetically approaching a crush over pedal steel. The clichés of Music Row are well-worn Wallen looks at them closer to find a new grain. Even at his most boisterous, Wallen is given to introspection, and he can make the straightest love song gnarly. Though Wallen’s idea was to split the album according to theme, things aren’t quite as delineated as that. Dangerous has 30 songs, two discs, and two modes: the “ rowdy redneck” raising hell in the boondocks, and the downhome romantic dreaming of his own piece of sky. 1s and a Billboard top 10, culminating, infamously, in being disinvited from Saturday Night Live after video surfaced of Wallen not wearing a mask at a party. Even before the release of his second album, Dangerous, the Sneedville, Tennessee native had racked up 3.4 billion streams, including four country airplay No. Wallen’s raucous side first got him noticed in Nashville, but baring his soul on songs like “ Cover Me Up,” a bruised take on a Jason Isbell song, made him into a superstar. ![]()
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