20 Cigarettes

Album

I'm the Problem

Label

Big Loud

Genre

Country pop

Composer(s)

Blake Pendergrass;Chase McGill;Josh Miller;Chris LaCorte

Entered Chart

May 31, 2025

Peak Date

Jan 10, 2026

Released

May 16, 2025

"20 Cigarettes" unfolds over the course of a single, steamy summer night in Nashville. Morgan Wallen narrates a one-night stand between him and a woman he meets in a bar on Demonbreun, a well-known street in Nashville's entertainment district. Wallen starts the night with a full pack of cigarettes and, over the course of the nocturnal encounter, watches them burn away one by one, each smoke signaling a moment of connection. The whole evening plays out like a country song crossed with a Raymond Carver story: sparse, smoky, and ending in a truck bed. By morning, the girl is gone, vanished like the last plume from his 20th cigarette. Blake Pendergrass (Morgan Wallen's "Ain't That Some" and "Sunrise"), Chase McGill (Kane Brown's "Lose It," Jordan Davis' "Next Thing You Know"), Josh Miller (Bebe Rexha's "Meant to Be," Morgan Wallen's "Lies Lies Lies" and Chris LaCorte (Sam Hunt's "23" Tucker Wetmore's "Wind Up Missin' You") wrote the song. While Wallen did not contribute to the writing of "20 Cigarettes," its themes resonate with his signature storytelling style. Though the title might tempt you to picture Wallen as a Marlboro Man in a backward cap, there's no evidence he's a regular smoker. In interviews, he's been candid about his addictive tendencies but hasn't singled out cigarettes as a vice. His 2016 song "Chain Smokin'" uses smoking more as metaphor than confession, while "One Thing At A Time" does find him relapsing after giving up smoking, but he's telling a story rather than recounting a real-life habit. "20 Cigarettes" seems chosen for its narrative potency, not because Wallen's been chain-lighting Camels behind Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. Carrie Underwood's "Smoke Break" is another story song about smoking sung by a nonsmoker. Produced by Joey Moi, the track rolls along with contributions from seasoned studio musicians: Jerry Roe on drums, Jimmie Lee Sloas on bass, Tom Bukovac on electric guitar, and Bryan Sutton on acoustic.

20 cigarettes
And I lit me one
On that redwood deck
On Demonbreun
She was with her friends
Left 'em standing there
There was more than smoke
In that summer air

We burned two while she told me 'bout her hometown
She was drinkin' Tito's, said I better slow down
I was like, "Hell nah
I ain't drinkin' by myself, nah"
Said she loved my accent, so I kept talkin'
Reached for the pack on the table by my wallet
We tore off to light the night we had left

With 13 cigarettes
And I lit me one
With the windows cracked
In my old half-ton
Singin' Take Me Home
On them country roads
So I turned off on one
Then next thing you know

We had a beer bottle lookin' like an ashtray
Under that full moon, she was 'bout halfway
Naked in my truck bed
So I helped her with the rest
She was sayin' my name
Barely even knew it
We were both lyin'
Said we never do this
To the music of the wind through the woods

It was probably somewhere around 2:00
In the mornin' by the time we got down to

That lucky cigarette
Layin' on our backs
We were out of breath
We both took a drag
Blew it in the sky
She was gone like that
One hell of a night
One hell of a pack