Wild as Her

"If she was having a good time, she would get up on a table and dance and everybody would stare at her like she’s crazy — and she would not care because she was having so much fun. That is like the essence of what this girl in the song is about. You’re not going to control her, you’re not going to tame her."

(Corey Kent / Billboard Magazine, August 16, 2022)

Since Corey Kent has been introduced on this blog almost exactly 4 years ago, the by now 28-year old artist has made huge leaps up on the career ladder. For on June 2, 2023 he was able to release his first studio album ("Blacktop") on a major label (Sony Music), for which he was able to work with famed producer Jay Joyce.

This achievement was not least due to one song, which by the middle of May 2023 became his biggest comercial success so far: 'Wild as Her'. Admittedly the song only reached number 3 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart, but on the alternate chart system issued by Mediabase, it climbed all the way to the top. That way Corey Kent is now able to reference a number 1 hit, even though the Mediabase chart is not as significant as the Billboard one.

In particular interesting however is the story around the song, which talks about an independent woman, who is a heartbreaker. At least until the moment, when she finds an equal partner. Or as Corey Kent describes the way to her heart in Billboard: "The best way to make her fall for you, is to embrace who she really is."

I ain't tryna fix her,
I just wanna kiss her,
fuel a little fire in her soul.
But we don't say forever, but when we're together,
swear that we ain't ever lettin' go.
'Cause she knows ...

I keep the windows down and the wind in her hair,
keep her heart hanging on 'round every turn.
She ain't scared to get tied down, scared to get burned,
just looking for somebody as wild as her.

(Wild as Her / Brett Tyler, Kelly Archer, Morgan Wallen)

But it's neither the lyrics of the song, nor the musical style, that rather perfectly fits in with the description of the on the singer from Oklahoma's press statement, which places him at the intersection of rock infused country, heartland values, and red dirt grit. And it's also not the fact, that Corey Kent was a co-writer on 7 out of 10 tracks on his debut album, while he was not involved in writing 'Wild as Her'.

What's really surprising though is, that the song's origin dates back to May of 2017. That's when it was co-written by today's commercially most successful country star of them all, Morgan Wallen. When he wrote 'Wild as Her' together with Brett Tyler and Kelly Archer however, he was barely known to the world and had only released a handful of songs. Even his full-length debut album ("If I Know Me") produced by Joey Moi, which includes his first number 1 hit ('Up Down' featuring Flordia Georgia Line) was not due until April the following year (2018).

While Morgan Wallen had been signed to Big Loud since 2015, he was still most successful with songs written by him, but recorded by other artists. This time the initial intention was to have him record 'Wild as Her'. But he eventually passed on it and Combustion Music, which owned the rights to the song, had to look for another artist to record the track. After all Combustion was convinced of the song's potential.

But it took almost 3 years until unknown singer Colby Keeling from Texas finally self-released the song. Produced by Philip Mosley, it stylistically preempted in parts what (Chris Farren and) Corey Kent would do later on. Except that Colby Keeling's voice made the song sound smoother and less dynamic. Yet, it has become by far the commercially most successful song to date for Colby Keeling with 2,6 mio. Spotify streams.

Almost exactly 2 years later, in February of 2022, another newcomer released the song as a single. This time it is Tyler Joe Miller from Canada, who has been signed to MDM Recordings since 2019, and who took the song after only 4 months all the way to number 8 on the Billboard Canada Country Chart (thereby achieving 3,2 mio. Spotify streams). For a moment the single even appeared on the Canadian Hot 100, in spite of the musical production being more country than rock. Which gets even further demontrated by the stripped version, that got released in April of 2022.

Almost at the same time, in March of 2022, the song eventually reached its final destination: Corey Kent. His management team had found the song at Combustion Music, where Corey Kent had been under contract and they suggested it to the upcoming artist. Since the theme of the song reminded him of his own wife and the dynamics of the song sounded like it could fit in with what he was doing on stage, he readily agreed to record it.

Quickly after release of the song, it garnered wide-spread attention and was beginning to lift the career of Corey Kent onto the next level.

Only 4 months later, 'Wild as Her' was holding at almost 70 mio. streams. That more than awakened the interest of major labels. In August of 2022 it eventually became RCA Nashville/Sony Music to sign Corey Kent and to subsequently promote the song as his first official single to country radio.

Over the next 40 weeks the song started a slow but steady climb on the charts and in almost perfect timing with the release of the first studio-album "Blacktop", it reached number 3 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart. By that time the hit single had reached well over 100 mio. streams on Spotify and the newly released live-version from Cain's Ballroom in Oklahoma proved the audience's love the for the song. Or as Corey Kent tongue-in-cheek added in the interview with digitaljournal.com: "Rock and roll isn’t dead."

With this song Corey Kent has laid the perfect foundation for his commercial career. A career he has been invested in for almost the past 20 years and which he hopes is now ready for fruition. Even though there will never be a guarantee.

But as Corey Kent said at abcaudio.com about his potential next single 'Something's Gonna Kill Me': "Some of my favorite things in life could kill me, but they're also the things that make me feel most alive. I love a Sunday afternoon motorcycle ride, I love smoking a cigar on my back porch with a good friend. This song is a realization that life is short, and you gotta take some risks to make the most of it."