Corey Kent's 'Wild as Her' Could've Been a Morgan Wallen Hit

Every hit country single undergoes a long journey from the writer's room to the top of the charts, but some are more circuitous than others. Corey Kent's "Wild as Her" is a perfect example.

"Wild as Her" was a breakout hit for Kent in the front half of 2023. Released as his country radio debut, the song soared to Platinum status and hit the top of the Mediabase chart by mid-May.

For Kent, it kicked off a hot streak: He released his full-length major-label debut Blacktop the following month, and then joined the lineup of Jason Aldean's 2023 Highway Desperado Tour.

But before all that, "Wild as Her" was a song that spent years in search of an artist to record it. Songwriter Brett Tyler co-wrote it with Kelly Archer and Morgan Wallen in 2017, and Wallen sang the demo recording, Tyler told Taste of Country earlier in November.

Back then, Wallen wasn't yet the megastar he is today, but he was a fast-rising name in country music — and Tyler thinks his voice on the demo might've scared some potential recording artists off.

"Because he can sing really high notes and things like that, and the demo especially was in a really high key," he continues, adding that the three writers knew "Wild as Her" was special because it "didn't sound like a lot of other songs out there."

Wallen's voice was obviously a good fit on the demo version of the song, so was there ever a point when Tyler hoped that Wallen would just go ahead and cut "Wild as Her" himself?

"Oh yeah," he confesses.

"Like, even before he was really as big and well-known as he is now — I think he was just coming off his first record," Tyler continues. "But I'm still a believer in [the idea that] if I write a song with an artist, my first thing is always, it should go to them if they want to record it."

Of course, the rest is history: Kent cut his version of the song and took it No. 1 on the charts, as well as No. 16 on Billboard 2023 Year-End list of top Country Airplay songs.

"Ultimately it found its way," Tyler sums up, "which is really cool."