May 16 is going to be a big day for one of country music’s dominant stars: He won’t just be opening his very own beach festival in Alabama, he’ll be dropping his hotly anticipated new album.

Morgan Wallen announced Thursday morning that his fourth studio album will be titled “I’m The Problem” and will be released on May 16. That also happens to be opening day for the inaugural Sand in My Boots Festival, which takes the place of the Hangout Music Festival this spring in Gulf Shores.

There’d been much industry speculation that the album would come out before the festival and the subsequent tour. Opening the festival with a boatload of new songs would put a slightly different spin on things – but fans won’t have to wait for all of them.

Two new singles off the album, “Just in Case” and “I’m a Little Crazy,” were to be released Thursday evening, following three that previously were shared. Wallen also is due to appear on as the featured musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” on March 29.

Wallen’s 2018 debut, “If I Know Me,” topped the country album chart and made it to number 10 on Billboard’s overall album chart. 2021’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” hit number one on both, as did 2023’s “One Thing at a Time,” another double album.

Needless to say, given his record-setting career so far, expectations are high for the new set. Thursday’s announcement said that Wallen had spent “nearly a year writing and refining the tracklist from his farm just outside of Nashville” and that “the process was reflective.”

“I have been a problem, for sure, and I’ve got no problem admitting that,” Wallen said in the announcement. “But there are other sides to me as well. I’ve spent the last 11 months really trying to figure out, ‘Do I still want to be the problem? Is it time to move past that phase in my life?’ I think it probably is, and this might be the last time I get a chance to honestly say it.”

The Sand in My Boots Festival, billed as a one-year “takeover” of the Hangout Fest that’s being extensively curated by Wallen, is sold out. For information on the event, visit www.sandinmybootsfest.com.