Morgan Wade on Working with ‘Powerhouse’ Kesha on ‘Walked on Water’ and Dream Collaboration with Miley Cyrus (Exclusive)
In an interview with PEOPLE, the rising country star also revealed how “longing” became a common theme of her new album ‘Obsessed’
For Morgan Wade, the best part about Obsessed was that it wasn’t meant to be a record.
“As long as I can remember it wasme writing songs for myself and that is what this was,” the rising country star says of her latest album over the phone from New York City as her French bulldog, Chop, snores in her lap.
Instead, Obsessed (released Aug. 16) was a return to form — just Wade and her guitar — how life was before the success of 2023’s Psychopath. “I didn’t know what I was doing with these songs,” she said. “I just know I was writing, and I was bringing songs from the past back to life.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(990x397:992x399):format(webp)/morgan-wade-082624-9191c2f023aa46319bddfdb2bd81be7e.jpg)
Obsessed, perhaps, came together seamlessly because Wade didn’t find herself immersed in the same pressure she had with her previous releases. Not only did her fourth studio album become an opportunity for her to write a collection of new songs but it also features a handful of tracks penned during the Reckless and Psychopath eras, which were recorded at hole-in-the-wall studios in Mississippi, Kansas City, Nashville and Omaha.
With Obsessed, the 29-year-old musician found she was tired of her time on the road and of largely focusing on her own experiences. “I used to write songs thinking they specifically had to be about me and what I’ve been through and I’m like, ‘My gosh I can only remember so many days,’” she said. “I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t want to tell everything that goes on in my life.’” Instead, Wade focused on being “a storyteller” and culled song ideas from the people around her. For instance, on the pedal steel-flanked “Hansel and Gretel,” she tells the tale of a couple she’s friends with who have been together so long the pᴀssion in their fighting has flamed out.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/morgan-wade-obsessed-cover-082624-7e7fa0392434436b867bb770fdf1a5fc.jpg)
For Wade, the common thread among the 14 tracks on her latest project is “longing:” longing to go home, longing for family, longing for love. “Longing for something,” she laughs.
The wistful number “Juliet” also embraces the theme, in which Wade put a queer twist on the classic Shakespeare tale. “I was like, ‘What if Juliet was in love with a girl?’” Wade recalls. She hopes that listeners can hear the track and “feel accepted.” “One of my favorite parts of that song was, ‘I understand if it is not me / just don’t let the world tell you who you ought to be.’ I think that is just so important for everybody to just be themselves and be happy no matter what that looks like for you,” Wade says.
What might stand out to fans in particular on Obsessed is a collaboration with Kesha on “Walked on Water,” a power ballad, she says was “a killing of the ego” and was partially inspired by a fan who commented on a post that she had split with her fiancé but in the breakup was able to keep the T-shirt her ex bought at Wade’s show in Denver.
For Wade, the team-up with Kesha has been a long time coming. She initially became obsessed with the pop star when she was 15 and “TiK ToK” was released and tried to connect with Kesha for years. Finally, through mutual friends in Los Angeles, they were introduced. “We just met and sat on the beach,” she said. “Then we went to the studio that night.”
Wade was in disbelief that they were finally working together. “She sang the second verse of ‘Walk on Water’ and I was like, ‘I cannot believe this is actually happening.’ She is just such a powerhouse.” Wade is also thrilled for “vocal powerhouse” Kesha’s “new chapter” — liberated from and Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald’s Kemosabe label after nearly a decade-long legal battle.
“The fact that she would come sing on something of mine in this new time for her, I was super honored,” the “Wilder Days” artist said. Hopefully, this song will open the doors for another dream collaboration — with Miley Cyrus. “I just think she can sing anything and is amazing,” Wade raves.
For the country singer-songwriter, “Deconstruction” felt like a fitting way to close the record. The word, she says — and the idea of learning and unlearning — has been at the forefront of her mind the past few years. “This a whole record about longing,” she says. “’Deconstruction’ for me is just why I need to be myself doing what I believe [and] what I want.”
Obsessed may not feature some of her more harrowing tracks like “27 Club,” but Wade isn’t inclined to call the record “happy.” “I’m not super depressed on this record,” she said. “It was just a moment of me being happy-ish.”
