On the night of the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, Morgan Wallen set the internet ablaze when he took to his Instagram story to share that he was skipping out on the said award show and instead went golfing with none other than NFL legend and 7x Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady.
In case you forgot, Wallen challenged Brady to a golf match all the way back in November 2023. Though many had forgotten about the fleeting exchange between the two giants, it’s clear that the pair hadn’t. Just a few hours ago, Brady took to his YouTube channel to upload a nine-minute video of the match which also gave viewers some insight into Wallen’s process on his record-breaking new album, I’m The Problem.
Early in the match and between holes, the 3x MVP asked Wallen about getting back on the road. Given that this was recorded before the album released, Wallen replied, “I’m very excited. I wasn’t ready until my album was done, obviously. But now that it’s done, [I] got something to look forward to. I’m looking forward to getting it out, seeing what people like. Hopefully they like all of it.”
The “Last Night” singer finished the segment off by describing I’m The Problem as “three different styles/subdivisions of country” which is bound to spark a lot of debate. Though he didn’t expand further on what exactly he meant by “three styles,” it’s fairly obvious that he’s referencing how he played with a multitude of different sounds on the album.
If I were to guess which three he meant, I’d have to point to trap, pop and traditional country influences found throughout the album on tracks like “Interlude,” “What I Want” (with Tate McRae) “The Dealer” (with ERNEST) respectively. With that being said, it’s not entirely clear what exact “subdivisions” he was referencing.
During the golf match itself, Wallen held a steady lead throughout and eventually took down the 15x Pro Bowler by quite a few strokes. This lead to Brady to make a FaceTime call to his son, telling him “Your dad got his a** kicked.”
After the match wrapped up, the pair exchanged autograph memorabilia with Wallen receiving an autographed Patriots jersey from the soon-to-be Hall of Famer. Returning the favor, the 32-year-old singer/songwriter gave Brady an autographed I’m The Problem guitar.
During the exchange, Wallen gave some insight into his writing process. Though it’s brief, the exchange gave some interesting into how he and his co-writers typically construct their songs. He noted that they typically start with the chorus’ hook and work their way backwards with the verses, “Usually we won’t even start a song unless we already have the full concept and the payoff hook done at the beginning. And then we’ll write, we’ll start at the first verse to write towards that hook.”
Wallen also noted that there were a few songs on I’m The Problem that weren’t spawned from that process, however. He particularly highlighted fan-favorite, “Genesis” as one of the songs that broke the mold:
“We started from the top with no hook. So we wrote first verse, chorus, all the way down, until we found the hook. We started the song [with] ‘There was a day Jack and Jim didn’t know me from Adam.’ So you just get all those Garden of Eden type ideas, and then you just keep going.”
The video ended with Wallen giving one final insight about the way he draws inspiration while writing, “I think a lot of it, for me at least, if I’m in that [writing] mindset, I’ll hear more things that I normally wouldn’t. It’s a lot about what people say around you. Somebody will just say something [and I’ll get an idea].”
Watch the full video here: