Just a smile

"[The song] zeroes in on the space between what we show the world and what we’re actually feeling. The lyrics center around a single photo—a moment that looks perfect on the surface but hides the emotional distance between two people."

(Will Vance /  magneticmag.com, January 1, 2025)

On August 7, 2024, Morgan Wallen teased almost 70 seconds of an unknown song on his Instagram page. As expected, this immediately led to demands for a full release of the song! But since current single 'Lies, Lies, Lies' had only been released 4 weeks prior, there was no further reaction.

And somehow his fans had already gotten used to the fact that it takes Morgan Wallen a particularly long time until a song excerpt eventually becomes an official release. So when the follow-up single 'Love Somebody' was released on October 18, 2024, it wasn't the expected song. But it helped getting over the disappointment. For already in the first week, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart at number 1 and subsequently also reached the top of the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart.

However Big Loud Records and Morgan Wallen still had one more surprise in store before the year was over! On December 31, 2024, not only a new Morgan Wallen single got released, but also a music video to go with it, all completely unannounced. At once everyone who saw Morgan Wallen's Instagram post from August 7, 2024, immediately realized that the song titled 'Smile' was exactly the song that was initially suspected to be titled It Was Good To See You Smile.

In keeping with the New Year theme, the video showed Morgan Wallen in a fictitious New Year's Eve TV show, where he was supposed to perform his current hit 'Love Somebody'. Instead, he goes off plan and sings the new song 'Smile'.
A song which surprises on several levels.

While the subject of a failed relationship is by no means a new topic for Morgan Wallen, we haven't heard these sonics from him before. In its melancholy, the song may be reminiscent of earlier singles such as 'Sand In My Boots' or '7 Summers', but 'Smile' lives almost exclusively from the emotions in sound and voice. It does not rely on beats or hip hop - inspired phrasings that are otherwise so typical for Morgan Wallen. Actually it does without drums altogether. Or as Will Vance from  neonmusik.co.uk writes: "[The song] is bold in its simplicity—there’s not a drum in sight. Instead, the song’s foundation rests on an unconventional guitar progression, creating a hypnotic, slightly unsettling effect."

With 'Smile', Morgan Wallen picks up where he left off with 'Love Somebody': namely, showing himself to be a versatile artist who can do more than just synthesize catchy pop sounds from country and hip hop. At the same time, the song's lyrics are more complex than one might assume from a superficial listen.

Written together with Rocky Block, John Byron, Ernest and Ryan Vojtesak, the lyrics tell the story of a failing relationship. They center around a photo that was spontaneously taken in a bar and which gave the impression of a happy relationship.

I can’t remember the last time,
you looked as happy as you did tonight.
Your tipsy friend grabbed that bartender,
gave him her phone and pulled us over there with her.
He counted to three.

(Smile / Morgan Wallen, Rocky Block, John Byron, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)

But this spontaneous picture that resulted from this situation is only a superficial snapshot that hides the deeper relationship situation.

I haven’t seen this side of you in forever,
I hate that that’s the truth.
But baby, you never do that when we’re alone together.

But 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.

It is a moment that allows unexpected hope to blossom. Hope that things will return to the way they once were. But it is only a false hope, because the longing for happier times has to give way to the shadow of the rejecting partner already the very next morning.

They say a picture's worth a thousand words,
but you ain't said one since you woke up.
Silly me thinkin' we could make it work,
can you blame me for getting my hopes up?

In the end, the sobering realization remains that a smile may not be more than a snapshot and does not have to have any further significance: if someone were to see this they’d think everything’s alright, at least we got a pretty little moment frozen in time.

Or as Will Vance points out: "The song captures the tension between public perception and private reality - especially that forced smile in a group photo when everything's unraveling behind the scenes."

"The arrangement mirrors the hollowness Wallen sings about, where everything seems fine on the surface but feels deeply off underneath."

All of this makes the song exceptional, while at the same time the melancholic ballad is not exactly radio-friendly. Nevertheless, it climbed to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in its second week, but as Morgan Wallen's current single, it only sits at number 31 after 5 weeks on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart as of January 31, 2025.

Whether it will stay that way remains to be seen. For on the same day (January 31st), Morgan Wallen released 'I'm The Problem', the title song of his eagerly awaited fourth studio album. But as with his Instagram post from August 7th, 2024, once again there is no specific release date mentioned. However, ticket presales for the I'm The Problem Tour 2025 with 20 stadium appearances in 10 cities across the US and Canada have already started - and that alone will undoubtedly bring more than just a smile to many faces.