"Wild Hearts" is a song by New Zealand-Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

. It was released on 19 August 2021 as a single on the EP Wild Hearts. Urban co-wrote the song with Brad Tursi,

Eric Paslay Eric Thomas Paslay (born January 29, 1983) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one album for EMI Nashville, which contains the hit singles " Friday Night", " Song About a Girl", and " She Don't Love You". In addit ...

and Jennifer Wayne, and produced it with Mitch Furr.

Background

Urban stated to fans via

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

: "To all of the lost ones who aren't really lost ones, this song is for you. We are WILD HEARTS!" He also said in a press release: "I'm here to tell you anything can happen in this life if you got the heart and the passion and a God-lit fire inside." Joseph Hudak of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' wrote that the song is "a classic tale of perseverance that preaches a message of not only pursuing your dreams but manifesting them" that alludes to some moments from Urban's life, including his "childhood memory of seeing

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

in concert with his father".

Critical reception

Matt Doria of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' called the song a "jammy, energetic country-pop track described aptly as 'quintessential Urban'".

Personnel

Adapted from the " Brown Eyes Baby" cassette booklet. * Kip Allen – drums * Rich Costey – mixing * Mark Dobson – recording * Mitch Furr – acoustic guitar,

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, drum programming,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, recording

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, twelve-string acoustic guitar * Scott Johnson – production coordinator * Randy Merrill – mastering *

– background vocals * Tyler Tomlinson – electric guitar *

Brad Tursi Old Dominion is an American country music band formed in Nashville. The band consists of Matthew Ramsey (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Trevor Rosen (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Whit Sellers (drums), Geoff Sprung (bass guitar), and Brad Tursi (le ...

– background vocals *

– acoustic guitar, background vocals,

ebow The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...

, electric guitar solo, production, vocals * Jennifer Wayne – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2021 songs 2021 singles Keith Urban songs Songs written by Keith Urban Songs written by Brad Tursi Songs written by Eric Paslay Capitol Records Nashville singles Universal Music Group singles