Why Morgan Wallen Is Going to 'Assume the Worst in Everyone' Since Becoming a Dad (2025)

Country star Morgan Wallen says he's become more guarded since becoming a dad to son Indigo Wilder.

The “I Ain’t Comin' Back” singer called in to chat with Kelleigh Bannen on her radio show Today’s Country Radioon Apple Music Country to discuss the release of his new album I’m the Problem on Friday, May 16. In Wallen's point of view, he’s been burned a few too many times over fame.

"I learned that lesson a lot. I mean, you'd think I'd have learned it after one time, but it might've just taken me a little more than it should have," Wallen, 32, confessed. "But also there was times where I just didn’t really care."

He had the freedom to do whatever he wanted, the singer said but that changed after he welcomed his now 4½-year-old son with ex Katie "KT" Smith.

"But you get older, you have a kid, and you start thinking about how that starts impacting other people and not just yourself," the "I Got Better" singer said.

Wallen said after his son’s birth, he began paying closer attention to who he was hanging out with and viewing the world through the lens of a parent.

"Whenever he was born, I started really looking at the world in that way," Wallen told Bannen.

Wallen said from his time in the spotlight, he’s learned that while not everyone can be called a user, "there's a lot of them."

"I'd say the majority are. So you learn to be able to distinguish pretty easily," Wallen said before continuing. "I mean, at this point, I'm going to assume the worst in everyone pretty much, to be honest."

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It’s safe to say Wallen has taken a papa bear approach to raising his little boy.

"That's just... the way it is. I'm going to assume you're s---ty, and if you prove me wrong, awesome," the country music star said. "But good luck."

He even wrote a song to Indigo about his troubled past called "Superman." With the popularity he’s achieved, Wallen said there’s no way around it — and so he wanted to use this song to tell his son.

"In the second verse, I wanted to let him know that, ‘Hey, everybody ain't nice. Everybody don't want your best interest, and I’m going to do my best to protect you, but at some point you're going to have to protect yourself,'" Wallen told Bannen.

Since this is his first song to his son, Wallen said he had much to say and that he poured a lot into it.

"There's a lot of different things that I felt like I was trying to, not only let him know where I fall short, but also give him advice, let him know I'm protecting him," the singer said. "I tried to say a lot in that one song just because it's really my only song to him at this point."

With Wallen writing so much fatherly advice into one song, it's likely because he’s already seeing a lot of himself in his son.

"I'm sure I'm going to get paid back quite a bit and that's fine," Wallen said, describing his son's likeness to him. "I think it's hilarious, at least I do right now. I don't know what I’ll think in five years, but it's funny right now."

Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem is streaming now. The full conversation onToday's Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannenis available onApple Music Countrynow.