How Billboard’s Up-And-Coming Country Artist Blake Whiten Went From Viral Covers to Opening Stadium Tours & Scoring His Own Hot 100 Hit

In June 2024, Blake Whiten’s stripped-down cover of Morgan Wallen’s “I’m The Problem” went viral on social media.

Fast forward two years and Whiten opened shows for Wallen in Pennsylvania and Michigan this summer on the country superstar’s Still The Problem stadium tour, joining Wallen on stage for his 2017 hit “Up Down.”

“That was the first time I’ve ever gotten a little bit emotional at a show,” Whiten tells Billboard of the first time he sang with Wallen. “I think it clicked for me when I was onstage for that last time [singing] ‘Up Down.’ It kind of just hit me, like, ‘OK, we are moving in the right direction.’”

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