The Night (Part 2)

"As a director I am drawn to people who have something to say and feel what they present as an artist. When I first heard Night 1 and 2 from Morgan, I was captivated by the raw honesty she was singing about. When we started coming up with the concepts for the two videos, I knew that it had to be about her journey, what she went through and how she got to where she is now." 

(P.R. Brown /  sonymusicnashville.com, November 11, 2022)

Roling Stone Magazine had her debut-album "Reckless" top the list of best country albums for 2021 and the catchy single 'Wilder Days' from it became her first Top-30 hit on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart. But for Morgan Wade it really started in 2019 with the self-written song 'The Night' and its nightmarish autobiographical examination on mental health and alcoholism.

"'The Night' was the first song I ever recorded", Morgan Wade said in her interview with  The Tennessean in January of 2022. "And it is a vulnerable song that I've learned -- after playing it live and talking to my fans after shows -- has helped me as much as it's helped others. It's showed me that I have a larger purpose as an artist."

It affects with its raw openness, which can be found not only in the lyrics, but also the singers distinctive voice, when she sings in 'The Night': Why do the demons in my mind never wanna leave me alone? It's about the darkest hours of a lonely night, when we feel most lost and have to face our innermost self.

On November 11, 2022 Sony Music Entertainment re-released the song, together with a new song also written by Morgan Wade. As it is some sort of sequel to the 'The Night' it gets titled 'The Night (Part 2)'. The connection of which is made right in the first line of the new song, which reads: I wrote a song about bein' suicidal, put it on the internet and it went kinda viral.

But Part 2 is not (yet) a simple happy-ending story, even though Morgan Wade sings about how blessed she is with everything that she got. But only to fear a relapse the very next moment: I thought by now these thoughts would stop, but I still have these dreams where I am takin' shots.

If I ain't with the band and I ain't on thе road,
I don't know who I am when I am home alone,
and I buy all this stuff 'cause I wanna feel somethin',
[and] I feel somethin' for a minute, [but] then it's back to feelin' nothin'.

(The Night (Part 2) / Morgan Wade)

Producer Sadler Vaden (who is the long time guitarist in Jason Isbells band The 400 Unit) who discovered Morgan Wade, used more electronics on Part 2 (than he did on Part 1), making it a minimalistic and shimmering track, as Sony Music Entertainment describes it. At the same time renowned graphic designer, photographer and music video director P.R. Brown came onboard for the visuals.

"PR sent a treatment that stopped me in my tracks," Morgan Wade points out on working with him. "He’s worked with everyone. The fact that he wanted to work with me was amazing, but what he sent us about how he saw and wanted to capture the song, it was shocking how completely he understood the things I was writing about."

The result are 2 sparse videos that accompany both songs, intensely focussing on the artist. While the video for Part 1 uses layers of washed out black-and-white, the visuals for Part 2 are starting to build hope with soft colorings. Consequently, anyone hoping for more drama and acting, will be disappointed at first sight. However no special effects can deliver what P.R. Brown skilfully does, when he lets the camera look deep into the eyes of Morgan Wade. After all, what can better convey all the intimate emotions of the songs, than the face of the artist, from whose torn soul they emanate?