Morgan Wade reveals her journey to growth and health on Wade's latest album 'Obsessed'

Morgan Wade is a survivor ? a rising country star whose latest album, "Obsessed," finds her hanging on by an acoustic guitar string.

But she's entirely okay with that.

For the past four years, the 29-year-old small-town south central Virginia native hailing from the Blue Ridge Mountains has experienced a particularly bittersweet type of stardom. Her emergence has occurred simultaneously with her being ripped raw by a series of life-altering and near-death experiences.

Thus, her latest release, which resulted from mid-afternoon and late-night acoustic guitar pulls produced by her touring guitarist Clint Wells, shouldn't be surprising.

Honest, stripped-down album is more raw than ever

"I stripped everything down and got really honest," offers Wade in a mid-afternoon conversation with The Tennessean a day before her album's mid-August release.

Wade is an artist whose tattoos all over her body already reveal a level of honest awareness unimaginable to the average person.

Her deep Southern accent creaks from her body. In it are traces of the hard life she has lived in recent years: her constant journey to sobriety, her Nov. 2023 double mastectomy related to a mutation of the breast cancer-causing RAD5ID gene in her body.

"I've dealt with loss my entire life," she says.

On the album, Wade confronted memories ?both frightening and healing ? while grappling with her roots in Southern religiosity (she cites the Old Testament's Book of Ecclesiastes as particularly important). The trauma was eased, however, because she was surrounded by friends, including Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Kyle Richards, album collaborator Kesha and 2024 tourmates Joan Jett and Alanis Morrissette.

The power of lyricism

Song titles like "2 A.M. in London," "Deconstruction," and "Time to Love, Time to Kill" feel ripped out of moments where her past has revealed itself in its most unflinching honesty and purest pain.

On "2 A.M. in London," the denseness of her struggles lyrically appear:

"There's a mini bar in my room / I asked the hotel to take it out / I know what it's like when it's late at night / And my mind talks good and loud" is resolved, in a manner of sorts, with, "I wish someone would throw me a bone / I just need you to be here / I want two shadows on my wall / It's 2 a.m. in London, baby / And I just wanna come home."

She then adds, "It's a good time to get into trouble / But I don't do that stuff anymore / My angry heart took a shot in the dark / And I found what I was looking for / I guess that's why I'm so anxious / I feel like we're a world apart / I come back around, hey, let's lock this thing down, baby / I gotta give you my heart."

When pushed about the notion of writing love songs, she's forthright in highlighting that of the many timeless singer-songwriter tropes in which this album deals, unrequited love and stealing joy from the jaws of heartbreak are not amongst them.

Partnering with Kesha, a full-circle moment

The creative joy of recording the album arrives via her pairing with Kesha for the album track "Walked On Water."

Wade effuses about signing her deal with Arista Nashville in Aug. 2021 and quickly wanting to set up a Music City co-writing session with the multi-platinum-selling and critically acclaimed singer-songwriter.

The Floyd, Virginia native was a 15-year-old fan developing her musical tastes and guitar chops when Kesha released "Tik Tok" in 2009. A decade later, she was a developing performer whose tastes were being molded by the production prowess of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's guitarist Sadler Vaden.

Her love of Kesha's uncategorizable artistry remained, though her creative road deviated from middle-of-the-mall pop to rustic Americana.

Somewhere between Wade's love of being an early riser and Kesha's love of late-night recording sessions, the duo finally met in Los Angeles, where the latter lent her voice to "Walk On Water."

Wade sings on the track about the aftermath of a failed relationship, "Hit my plug for some pills, for insomnia / When I'm awake, I'm just thinkin' of us / But we aren't the same, I wish you well / As you're prayin' to God that I just burn in hell," Wade sings.

"I thought we'd get married, move to the beach / But like everything I said, it's just smoke and dreams / And I'm layin' in this bed, ain't makin' love / I might lose to myself, hell, I might just give up," adds Kesha.

Wade sang Kesha's songs in cars with her cousins as a teenager. A decade later, she recorded her debut album indie after breaking up with her boyfriend.

"Walked On Water" feels like a full-circle placeholder that entrenches Kesha as an inspiration and real-time friend.

A life that's continually exceeding expectations

Five days before her conversation with The Tennessean, Wade was gifted a custom signature model guitar by her 2024 tourmate Joan Jett.

The memory of finishing the tour at Los Angeles' Kia Forum and having such a special moment occur left Wade in tears.

Alongside Kesha's catalog, songs like Jett's 1980 classic "Bad Reputation" and fellow "Triple Moon" tourmate Morrissette's 1995 hit "Hand In My Pocket" are foundational touchstones of why her art thrives at country and rock's intersection.

However, unlike other moments that have dominated her memories in the past half-decade, these are tears of joy.

"Obsessed" was a "miraculous" album for Wade that, as she notes, allowed a "weird, dark time" of her life to evolve into her coming to a resolution with her mental health, body and personal beliefs.

Thus, for as much as the album feels like a complete thought, it's moreso the longest, most profound chapter to date in a growing book defining a life that's continually exceeding expectations.

"I'm not even who I was six months ago. This is me coming to terms with who I've been, who I am now and having no idea (where this heads in the future)."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Virginia native Morgan Wade talks about what to expect with 'Obsessed'