When Morgan Wallen competed on Season 6 of The Voice in 2014, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be a singer. But after auditioning for the reality TV talent show, he was first on Usher‘s team, before switching to Adam Levine‘s team, and made it all the way to the playoffs before he was eliminated. Now, five years later, Wallen is thankful for the experience, and even more thankful that he didn’t win.
“I’m thankful for that time. I’m thankful for how it all turned out,” Wallen admitted to PEOPLE. “And honestly, I’m thankful that I didn’t win because it gave me a chance to take a couple years after that show and really figure out who I was as an artist and get the right team around me. When I got there, I had no clue what I was doing.”
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It was Wallen’s mother who signed her son up to audition, which became the catalyst for the career he has now.
“I didn’t even know what The Voice was,” the Tennesee native admitted. “That whole experience kind of kick-started me a little bit.”
The show also taught him to stand his ground for what he wants, even if it goes against the advice of others.
“They wanted me to sing pop music, and I wanted to sing country music,” Wallen recalled. “But it was a big first step — I guess that’s the first time in my life where I realized that maybe I actually have a shot at this.”
Wallen will never know what his career might have looked like if he had pursued pop music instead, and he doesn’t need to know. Instead, the 26-year-old is happy to stay true to himself, and the music he wants to make.
“I think that the best music and the music that people relate to the most is the honest music that people feel themselves in it,” Wallen acknowledged. “That takes time to figure out; that takes time to write. So those couple of years after that show were really, really important to me. And I’m glad that it happened the way it did.”
Wallen has had two No. 1 singles so far: “Up Down,” featuring Florida Georgia Line, and his most recent hit, “Whiskey Glasses, which became a platinum-selling hit. He spent part of the year serving as the opening act on Florida Georgia Line’s just-wrapped Can’t Say I Ain’t Country Tour, and will then hit the road next year on Jason Aldean‘s We Back Tour.
Wallen is also nominated for his first-ever CMA Award, for New Artist of the Year. The 2019 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Photo Credit: Getty / Rick Diamond
