‘What I Want’ by Morgan Wallen & Tate McRae - Lyrics and Meaning

Undoubtedly the most buzzed-about offering from Morgan Wallen's 37-song new album, I'm the Problem, ‘What I Want’ features genre-blending guest vocals from Tate McRae.

In the lead-up to its release, Wallen teased that I'm the Problem would include his first ever female duet, with fan speculation running wild as the likes of Megan Moroney, Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert were all proposed as potential collaborators.

However, shortly after Holler predicted it would actually be Tate McRae, the pop phenom shared a not-so-subtle photo of an orange ‘MW’ jersey to her Instagram Stories, we got confirmation of this exciting, star-studded crossover collaboration.

When we first head a snippet of what we thought was a leaked version of Tate McRae's part of ‘What I Want’, we feared this might be a step too far into the pop world for Morgan Wallen. Thankfully, though, that was a fake snippet, and the real version of ‘What I Want’ finds Wallen and McRae's sleek vocals combining across a sultry, simmering instrumental as they trade verses about a shot-term romance.

There's a playful guitar flourish that resurfaces throughout ‘What I Want’, serving as a satisfying recurring motif, with the rest of the instrumental pivoting around an emphatic, weighty drum pattern and some rattling hi-hats. Morgan Wallen's charismatic, rasp-infused vocals convey his yearning, with Tate McRae's comparatively polished delivery complementing Wallen's portion beautifully. It's early days, but we reckon this could blossom into the biggest track from I'm the Problem, with the undulating, longing hook cementing this as an infectious earworm.

“She said you don't want this heart boy it's already broke

Told me everything she touch just goes up in smoke

Only stay a couple nights then she gon' be gone

I said baby you should know that's what I want”

‘What I Want’ captures the protagonists’ shared desire to enjoy a passionate night together, with each vocalist warning the other that they're broken due to a past break-up.

However, they reassure one another that they're in the same boat. Despite her repeatedly telling him that she'll be leaving in a couple of nights’ time, due to her restless heart and her lingering pain from her previous relationship, he stresses that this short-lived flame is exactly the kind of experience he's looking for tonight.

“You ain't gotta worry ‘bout no trust issues with me

I got ‘em too, I got ‘em too

You ain't gotta worry ‘bout no exes that's crazy

I got ‘em too, you know I do”

They reiterate that they don't need to fret about the baggage some people bring to new relationships, such as possessive exes and trust issues. They light-heartedly affirm that they both have these aplenty, so they'll be in the same boat.

“If you're in a hurry

Nah you ain't gonna hurt me tonight

And it won't be the worst thing

If this is all it is

And in the middle of a kiss”

They again emphasise that they don't need to worry if one of them gets the urge to leave - even if it's in the “middle of a kiss” - because they both know the state of play. Neither tries to hide the fact that they just want some comfort and pleasure.

“There ain't no hard feelings if you only wanna act like lovers do for a night or two (ooh, oh yeah)

Sometimes in the mornin' go back to bein' someone you never knew, you never knew”

Tate McRae echoes Morgan Wallen's sentiments from the opening verse, underlining that they'll just be ‘acting’ like lovers, with no real, deep-seated feelings of love underpinning their romance. She suggests that, when the sunrise comes, they might just go back to being strangers, such is the fleeting nature of this flame.

During a first listen of I'm the Problem at his Nashville establishment, Morgan Wallen's This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, Wallen shared how this special collaboration arose.

"We had been talking about doing a song for a while. We've expressed to each other, for a couple years now, that we were fans of what each other was doing and just talked about doing a song. It just hadn't worked out up until now," Wallen explained.

"It seems just like one of those songs that's a no brainer. She was an absolute pleasure to work with on the feature. She did everything very timely," he continued. "We didn't get to work on it in the studio together, but the song wasn't originally written for her in mind. It was written in a [male] key, technically, and she just absolutely crushed every single part of the song. I'm fired up for people to hear it!"

In a separate statement, the Sneedville megastar gushed about working with McRae, “My sister showed me Tate’s music a while back, and I just think she’s cool. Her range is so good. She’s able to get emotions across in such a wide range of keys and vocals. I really love her low tones. That song wasn’t written with her specifically in mind, but we sent it to her, and she didn’t ask us to change the key or anything. She was a really great person to work with, as far as features go. I can’t say enough great things about Tate, and there’s nobody really like her tome. I know she takes pride in writing as well. I’d expect her to be around for a while. I think she’s got something unique, and I’m proud to have her on here”.

“She said you don't want this heart boy it's already broke

Told me everything she touch just goes up in smoke

Only stay a couple nights then she gon' be gone

I said baby you should know that's what I want

-

That's what I want, that's what I want

That's what I want, that's what I want, that's what I want

What I want

-

You ain't gotta worry ‘bout no trust issues with me

I got ‘em too, I got ‘em too

You ain't gotta worry ‘bout no exes that's crazy

I got ‘em too, you know I do

-

If you're in a hurry

Nah you ain't gonna hurt me tonight

And it won't be the worst thing

If this is all it is

And in the middle of a kiss

-

She said you don't want this heart boy it's already broke

Told me everything she touch just goes up in smoke

Only stay a couple nights then she gon' be gone

I said baby you should know that's what I want

-

That's what I want, that's what I want

That's what I want, that's what I want, that's what I want

(That’s what I want) That’s what I want

(Ooh)

-

There ain't no hard feelings if you only wanna act like lovers do for a night or two (ooh, oh yeah)

Sometimes in the mornin' go back to bein' someone you never knew, you never knew

-

Baby don’t you worry, you ain’t gonna hurt me tonight

It won't be the worst thing

If this is all it is

Then she kissed me again

-

And said you don't want this heart boy it's already broke

Told me everything she touch just goes up in smoke

Only stay a couple nights then she gon' be gone

I said baby you should know that's what I want

-

She said you don't want this heart, nah, it can't be fixed

And I ain't ready to try on a night like this

But if you still wanna stay, there ain’t nothin’ wrong (there’s nothin’ wrong)

I said baby you should know that's what I want

-

That's what I want, that's what I want

That's what I want, that's what I want, that's what I want

That’s what I want

Yeah

That's what I want, that's what I want, that's what I want (mmm yeah)

That’s what I want

What I want

(That’s what I want, that’s what I want)”

--

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