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Interview: Corey Kent on ‘Wild As Her’, UK country fans and 2023 plans

Corey Kent may have been a performer for a long time – he was just 11 when he started out as the lead singer of a touring Western swing band in his home town of Buxby, Oklahoma – but it’s safe to say 2022 has been his breakthrough year.

After pausing his career due to the pandemic and working for a time pouring concrete to make ends meet, he found success with his version of ‘Wild As Her’, a sleeper hit that left Nashville labels scrambling to sign him. Since then he’s become one of the hottest new artists in country music and delivered two standout performances at C2C on the Spotlight Stage and the BBC Radio 2 Stage earlier this month.

Whilst he was here, I sat down with Corey (just before he had to catch a train to Paris!) to talk about his C2C experience, the success of ‘Wild As Her’, how he approaches his songwriting and more – including what’s still on his bucket list…

How have you found C2C?

Oh, man. This has been such a fun experience. Everybody’s been so embracing, you know? We had a meet and greet after my last show, and I had to stop somebody and say, “Hey, is everyone here this nice?” Because I don’t know if you’re putting on an act but everyone has genuinely been so hospitable, and taken such great care of us. And I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this kind of genuine kindness. Everybody’s been great.

Whilst you’ve been here, are there any songs you’ve played that connected with the crowd in a way that’s surprised you?

Absolutely. So there were some songs that I played, my very first show here at C2C, and it was packed. And I for sure thought, “OK, I’ve gotta win these people over ’cause they probably have never heard of me”. There were people singing songs from my very first record [2016’s ‘Long Way’], which is like five years ago. Which I did not expect. I expected… you know, we have one song that’s a hit song at country radio right now. My expectation was, they might know that one, if I’m lucky. Well they definitely knew that one. But for them to know so many other songs already, I just felt like, either people really did their homework after the lineup was announced or they have been fans. And that was just hard to fathom, coming halfway across the world and hearing people sing your songs. Pretty cool.

We’ve just touched on ‘Wild As Her’ which is your current radio single. Did you always know that song was special? Or has its success surprised you?

I would say when we got the mix back, when all the parts had been recorded, we knew it was a great song. But it doesn’t always turn out in the studio. Sometimes you cut a great song and it just doesn’t have that magical thing. This one definitely had some magic. And I remember there was an email thread between my manager and our publisher and me, and everybody was like, “Oh this is it. This is gonna do something”. And I don’t know if I believed it because it had never happened before. Like if somebody’s telling you, “If you just keep your head down and you work hard and put out good music, eventually something’s gonna happen”, but if it’s never actually happened then you trust that it could happen, but you don’t believe, you don’t know that it’s gonna happen. You believe but you don’t know. And so I believed it could happen.

And then when it started happening, when it took off and became one of the most streamed country songs in the whole world, I was like, “Man, our team was right”. And I’ve surrounded myself with good people that know what they’re talking about. I have a great team around me. So that was a really cool vote of confidence too. And in addition to showing up everywhere, even halfway across the world and people singing your song, I also just got this vote of confidence that we have the right team. ‘Cause they were telling me from day one, “This is special.”

How do you approach your songwriting? Do you have a typical way you write or does it depend on what the song needs?

Yeah, good question. So the way that I write is different than how I used to write. I think there’s a point in time where early in your writing career, you’ve got to write as much as possible even if that means finishing bad songs and just getting through them so that you can get your reps up. I did that for years, and wrote five days a week, multiple times a day, cranked out thousands of songs. Now I am more quality over quantity. Because also I’m touring more and I have kids and a family and a wife – I have a lot on my plate. So now it’s, I am constantly writing down ideas, and then I compartmentalise a time where I fly in some of my favourite writers, we have a week, all that we’re doing is writing, and I bring out all of those ideas and we pick the 10 best ideas. And we might only write seven or eight songs in that week. But they are more likely to make the record than if I wrote 100 songs that were not full hearted, if that makes sense. So quality over quantity now.

What’s still on the bucket list for you?

So travel wise, I mean, coming to London was one of them. Paris, I’m gonna do right after we get done with this interview, I’m going to Paris. And then playing in Australia is on the list. I wanna visit Italy, Ireland, Scotland and then maybe like the Swiss Alps. So done a lot of travelling in the US, got a few places I wanna see outside.

And then musically, I would say the one thing I really care about, and not that I don’t care about awards but I care about live music. That’s why I play music, is ’cause I fell in love with live music. And so any award that has to do with live, like Entertainer of the Year, right? Of course that’s the crown jewel of country music, but it’s the only one to me that really matters because it is about live music. And that is what I love. That’s where my heart is. It’s not about recording or radio gigs – those are all great things and we’re working hard to get those. But if it’s not between me and the fans it doesn’t mean as much.

I watched you in the Indigo this morning and I would bet money you’ll get there…

Oh wow! What a compliment. I’m working hard at it, I have my sights set on it. People think I’m crazy for setting that as a goal. But you know, it’s crazy that 24 months ago I’m working at a pavement company and now we have a top 10 at radio.

And you’re in London!

Gotta dream big, right? I mean, we’re in London. Playing at the O2. Insane.

What does the rest of this year look like for you at the moment?

Yeah, so 2023 we’re gonna put out a record. Probably in the middle of summer. And then right after that, at least the goal is to put this record out right before we go on tour with Jason Aldean. So we’re gonna be on tour with him July through October, and that’s gonna be our first real big arena experience, playing 20,000 people a night. We’re using to playing a couple of thousand clubs, now we’re essentially going to the O2 every night [laughs]. So it’s gonna be a culture shock, for sure. But it’s gonna be fun.

Have you got plans to come back to the UK after this trip?

So, not on the books, but I have already been communicating with my team. I think there are people that really see the value in building a fanbase here and there are people that might not see that as much. I have first hand experienced a connection with some of the fan base here. So, yeah, we’re coming back. We’re gonna book some club dates. It’ll probably be after the Aldean tour which means 2024 more than likely. But I have been telling everybody that I meet, “Hey, I am for sure coming back, be watching”. Because I want to come back. I’ve loved my time here and everybody’s been great.

Corey Kent’s latest single, ‘Better Now’, is out now on RCA Nashville/Sony Music Nashville.

Laura Cooney
Laura Cooney
Laura has been writing for Entertainment Focus since 2016, mainly covering music (particularly country and pop) and television, and is based in South West London.

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