Years before Morgan Wallen became one of the biggest stars in country music, he got his start in the music industry as a contestant on The Voice. While Wallen had his breakout hit, “Up Down,” with Florida Georgia Line in 2017 (and exploded on the charts from there), he was a contestant on the singing competition show even before that.
The Voice has been criticized for not producing commercially successful artists, but Wallen was an exception to the rule. In fact, much like Jennifer Hudson on American Idol, he didn’t even need to win the show to become a massive star.
So, just how far did he get on The Voice? Scroll down for a refresh on his journey.
When was Morgan Wallen on The Voice?
Wallen was on The Voice during Season 6, which aired in the spring of 2014. Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher, and Shakira, were the coaches that season.
How far did Morgan Wallen make it on The Voice?
Wallen made it to the Playoffs on The Voice, but was eliminated before the Live Shows.
His journey started with his Blind Audition, where he sang “Collide” by Howie Day. In a 2024 interview, he revealed that there were only two slots left when he auditioned, one on Team Shakira and one on Team Usher. Both coaches turned their chairs and Wallen selected Usher as his coach.
In the Battle Rounds, he was paired up with Brothers Walker for a duet of “Hey Brother,” and Usher chose him as the winner, which meant he advanced to Round 2 of the Battles.
There, he was pitted against Stevie Jo in a duet of One Direction’s “Story of My Life.” Usher chose Stevie as the winner, but Levine used his Steal to keep Wallen in the competition.
In the Playoffs, all four coaches had five singers on their teams and had to choose two to eliminate ahead of the Live Shows. Wallen sang “Stay” by Black Stone Cherry, and Levine eliminated him.
Why was Morgan Wallen eliminated from The Voice?
Wallen claimed he was eliminated from The Voice because he wanted his music career to take a different direction than what those working on the show envisioned. “They wanted me to sing pop music,” he alleged. “They got me dressed like … I don’t even know … singing a pop song. I’m very fish out of water. I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve never even been on a plane before the show. I’m so naive to all this stuff.”
He added, “I made it to the Top 20, and I finally sang a country song, and that’s when I got kicked off. Singing a country song.”
Overall, Wallen did not look back on his time on the show all that fondly. “I ended up on Usher’s team, hated it,” he said in the 2024 clip. “I hated pretty much a lot of it.” However, he said he was “thankful” he was eliminated and admitted, “I’m not mad at them for that. They were probably doing what they thought they were going to make the most money off of.”
It all worked out, though, because through the show, Wallen “met some people” and moved to Nashville in 2015, which is when his career started taking off.
The Voice, Season 29, Mondays, 9/8c, NBC
