Morgan Wallen’s Co-Writer Blake Pendergrass Reveals What the Full Version of ‘Interlude’ Was Like: “It Was One Of My Favorites”
By Maxim Mower
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While chatting to Holler, one of Morgan Wallen's go-to co-writers, Blake Pendergrass, has opened up about what the full version of ‘Interlude’ from his I'm the Problem was like.
Pendergrass had revealed previously that the brief, 44-second long ‘Interlude’ was initially part of a longer song, called ‘Wrong Way’, and in his interview with Holler, the prolific songwriter explains that the full version was much more country-leaning.
Pendergrass, who has penned gems like ‘The Dealer’, ‘Just in Case’ and ‘I Got Better’, shares, “Charlie Handsome is the guy that we work with all the time, and Charlie comes from the rap world. So that part, that ‘Interlude’, is the actual back-part where it's got that like halftime, pitched-down thing that's happening”.
The ‘Miami’ songwriter adds, “It's kind of just a rap trick that happens a lot in that genre...It was honestly something where we wrote a whole song that was just a regular song, and Charlie just did that at the end because he thought it was funny”.
He goes on, “At the end, he was like, ‘This is cool’, and it turned into being the ‘Interlude’ song just because Morgan gravitated more towards that part of it than the actual song”.
Shortly after its release, Wallen replied to a fan on X (formerly Twitter) asking for full version of ‘Interlude’, by teasing, ‘Noted’, leaving many to speculate that he was planning to drop a longer rendition of it. Then, when Drake emerged with him in Houston last summer, rumours started circulating that the Toronto rapper could appear on the lengthier version of the song, with Handsome's wife - Marissa - even encouraging this star-studded collaboration via her Instagram Story.
While Drake continues to hint at a foray into country, Pendergrass underlines that he doesn't imagine anything more will come from ‘Interlude’, “So usually in my experience, Morgan, when he moves away from a song, he's usually got a reason for it. So in my mind, I've always just assumed ‘Interlude’ was the full pie on that one. There's no extra thing to be coming, but there it was a part of a regular full song”.
Pendergrass emphasises just how much material they have, with the full ‘Wrong Way’ song likely remaining unreleased, “I mean, the amount of songs that we have that are in the back catalogue that we've written that didn't make the project...There's tons of those...And so it probably falls into that category. But who knows?”
He stresses, though, that he's enjoyed seeing fans reacting so positively to ’Interlude’ and the prospect of a full version, “It's always fun whenever fans gravitate towards something like that. It's really cool to just see what happens with it from there....I still love the song that it was, the song that originally started like that. It was one of my favorites, and all the guys that we wrote it with...I loved it as well”.
We'd also love to one day hear the full version of ‘Wrong Way’, ideally with a Drake verse, but it does feel like Wallen has now turned his attention to a brand new era, with singles such as ‘Been By Now’ and ‘Last Thing You Need’ from the GTA VI album.
Perhaps ‘Interlude’ is destined to remain as it is. Even so, it feels like a clue as to the genre-blurring sound we can expect from Wallen's next chapter, with the Sneedville native and his team hinting that he's lookng to broaden his horizons beyond country.
Read Holler's full interview with Blake Pendergrass here.
