MORGAN WALLEN - Smile - Big Loud/Mercury Records/Republic

With 19 wins at this year’s Billboard Music Awards, two Grammy nominations already notched for 2025, a record-breaking world tour, and back-to-back hits with “Lies Lies Lies” and “Love Somebody,” it’s safe to say that the most recent hype surrounding Morgan Wallen is at an all-time high with absolutely no signs of slowing down.

After teasing a new offering on his social media platforms that naturally created an instantaneous buzz, the superstar now adds an exclamation point to his incredible year while stamping another foot forward into his next chapter.

The surprise release of “Smile” is available now on all streaming and digital platforms via Big Loud/Mercury Records/Republic.

Written by Wallen, Rocky Block, John Byron, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak and Luis Witkiewitz, the softness of the instrumentation accents the heartache waver of his undeniable vocal as he retrospectively recalls when times were happier between he and his better half through a literal snapshot taken in the here and now that captured her donning a long-lost smile; albeit a fake one, a put on just for the photo.

“I can't remember the last time you looked as happy as you did tonight,” he sings on the opening line of the song while examining the still shot that arrived when her tipsy friend pulled them all together at the bar to snap the image.  

By only loosely touching on the edges of their continually growing apart, tellingly stating about her smile “I hate it's the truth, but baby you never do when we're alone together” while lamenting that although a picture is worth a thousand words she hasn’t said one to him since she woke up, the lyrics are crafted in such a clever way that they leave moments of interpretation open to the listener.

Knowing that they’re falling apart and on the verge of breaking though both clearly still holding tightly to the fraying last thread that’s binding them together, there’s a depth that laces the underlying fact that neither of them really want to let go while they simultaneously battle the turmoiled truth of knowing that they will.

The simplicity of the chorus sits perfectly within the grip of the church choir like backing vocals which eerily and beautifully lift his broken heart as he tenderly sings:

“It was good to see you smile

Girl you know it’s been a while

It was good to see you smile

Even if it was just for the picture”

Clearly experiencing some type of personal heartache in his own life as these last three songs have shown, Morgan Wallen has poured pure vulnerability into his artistry as he opens this dynamic next chapter, bringing his real life into song while experimenting within his sound to grow it forward and invoke an even stronger heart connection with his fans as each song turns like the next diary page.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis/Artwork c/o Big Loud/Mercury Records/Republic)