Psychopath (Sony Music Nashville, 2023)

With one track, "80's Movie," Morgan Wade's producer (Sadler Vaden) has tried awfully hard to brighten the singer/songwriter's sound. With her multi-tracked lead vocals, this – and other tracks on her "Psychopath" album - have a pop-ish, girl group sound. This sonic is likely more appealing than the raw emotion she expressed with her single, "Wilder Days."

The title track is about a guy that thinks Wade is a psychopath, but he's likely not heard her new music yet. The album closes with "27 Club," which is the release's most troubling track. Over a soft instrumental arrangement, Wade sings: "But it's kinda fuckin' hard at the end of every day/Stuck in my mind/Like all the time/And some nights when I'm feeling suicidal/I could reach for the gun, I could reach for the bottle/But it's great/At least now I get paid." The fact that she is now earning money from expressing her emotional struggles through music can't make life any easier. "I don't know if I would call it luck/But I didn't make the 27 club/I'm 28," she continues. This "27 Club" is a cultural list of musical artists that died young, at 27, including Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse. Avoiding this 'club' by living to 28, is no great feat at all, and closes the album on an especially depressing note.

Wade's Southern accent comes through with her vocals, but there isn't much else about the music that's country. In fact, "Meet Somebody" owes more to '90s grunge music – complete with a big electric guitar solo – than anything else.

"Fall In Love With Me" is an upbeat, chirpy pop song about a girl hoping – like a teenage schoolgirl -- she can make a guy fall for her. However, it's tough to imagine someone fighting against joining the 27 Club elsewhere, singing such frothy, romantic words sincerely. Then again, maybe Wade's real disorder is a split personality, rather than being a psychopath. Who is the real Morgan Wade? The jury is still out, at least evidenced by the songs here.