Corey Kent joins The Kelleigh Bannen Show on Apple Music to discuss the inspiration behind his sophomore album, ‘Black Bandana,’ and the creative journey that led to its concept.
He also shares the story of how his collaboration with Lauren Alaina on “Now Or Never” came to be, and he reflects on the pressures of the “sophomore album slump.” Plus, Corey delves into how he consciously avoided repeating the sound of his previous album.
Listen to the episode live anytime on-demand with an Apple Music subscription at apple.co/_KelleighBannen
Corey Kent Tells Apple Music Where the Idea to Write “Black Bandana” Came From
It’s become this symbolic thing in my life where, man, we were actually at our ranch in Texas, and it was me, Rocky Block, Jordan Dozzi and Brett Tyler. And Brett wrote “Wild As Her,” so he knows my story and he’s been there for a lot of it. And he’s like, “I’ve been wanting to write this song with you called Black Bandana.” And I was like, “Well, that’s really cool, but what does that mean?” And as we worked through that, I was like, “What’s the opposite of a black bandana?” And there was this light bulb moment. We all looked at each other and we were like, “A white flag.”… And it’s the difference in really working for a song versus sometimes you feel like it was just given to you. And this one… just felt like it was meant to be written, it existed, and we just got to help get it out there.
Corey Kent Tells Apple Music “Black Bandana” is About Not Giving Up
As we started talking about my journey and all the moments that we could have quit leading up to this point where it would’ve made more sense, it was more rational to quit. It was more rational to keep working at the pavement company because that was the steady paycheck, instead of going back to making no money, losing money every night, playing the club scene in Texas… It made way more sense to give up. And I had a family that I needed to provide for, and even they didn’t give up.
Corey Kent Tells Apple Music How His Collaboration with Lauren Alaina, “Now Or Never,” Came To Be
First off, I knew her voice from the radio and I knew her song with HARDY was huge. I knew her catalogue, some of the hits that she’s had, but I had never heard her live… Hearing somebody who can pull it off live is next level. Billy Bob’s, Texas, we’re playing this radio event and it’s kind of a songwriters round, if you will. And I’m sitting right next to Lauren and I hear her sing and I went, “Oh my gosh, the tone, the control. She’s so powerful, man.”… Just, we kind of exchanged info, and the next day I was like, “Hey, this is kind of out of the blue, but I’ve had this song, I’ve been sitting on it for a while looking for the right vocalist for it, and I’d be honored if you’d be on it.” And she was like, “Immediately, yes, let’s make it happen.” There was this, kind of just this beautiful mutual respect for each other and the work that we’ve put in on our crafts to be capable of doing this live. And it was really cool. And then we got in the studio and she was so, I mean, she’s a pro.
Corey Kent Tells Apple Music How He Approached Creating His Sophomore Album, ‘Black Bandana’
Instead of trying to make something that sounded like Wild as Her or something that sounded like any of the last record, it’s like, how do I create something new instead of recreate what’s already happened? This record, really, we did that. It was important to me too, to take some chances and do some new things and create some new sounds and let my voice be the common thread through the songs as opposed to, “oh, it’s this many guitars and this kind of drumbeat on every song on the record.”… But I wanted a really starkly contrasted one-two punch on the record to start the record to throw out any stereotypes or what any fan would preconceive this record to be is out the window after song two because you get hit with the opposite ends of the spectrum on the record.