Songfacts®:

• Corey Kent embraces life on the edge, and this song delves into his inclination for daring escapades. It could be the open road, the allure of whiskey or the wisps of smoke within his lungs. There's no avoiding it – one day, mortality will catch up. If something is going to snuff him out, it might as well be the very essence that ignites his sense of being alive.
  
  Speaking to Billboard, Kent scoffed at the naysayers begging for caution. He isn't about playing it safe. "My response to that was always, 'Get busy living or get busy dying,'" he noted. "There are things in life that have big risk. But if they add to your enjoyment, then maybe it's worth it. You got to figure out what works for you."
• During the second verse, Kent takes us back to his Indian Scout Bobber motorbike, all muscle and grit that was built for speed. One sun-soaked day, curiosity got the best of him and Kent pushed that beast to see how fast it would go.
  
  Broke 100 on two wheels
  Found revival on the road
  The devil's always on my heels but I keep him on his toes
  One day, Kent felt obliged to find out just how fast it could go
  
  "That was a really fun bike," Kent recalled. "You get a new bike, you got to test the parameters of it and get comfortable with it. And so it definitely happened in Texas. You can find a nice stretch of road and really get after it."
• Kent wrote the song during an October 2022 creative retreat in the Dallas area with three songwriting pals: Lydia Vaughan (Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood's "If I Didn't Love You"), Austin Goodloe and Joybeth Taylor. Collectively, the quartet produced a total of six songs, with a particularly strong focus and enthusiasm poured into this particular track.
  
  "We're just standing up and screaming at the top of our lungs - I'm sure the neighbors from the Airbnb thought we were crazy," Goodloe told Billboard. "It's the most adrenaline that I've felt while writing a song. Usually, you're sitting down with an acoustic guitar and everyone's kind of being quiet. And we were standing up, running around the living room of this pink house, just screaming, 'If something's gonna kill me.'"
• Kent brought "Something's Gonna Kill Me" to a session with producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Lainey Wilson). Joyce infused the track with an array of distinctive, unconventional sounds that complemented the steady four-on-the-floor drumbeat. Additionally, he introduced a striking whistling crescendo that segued into an instrumental interlude. "The final cut was a little riskier and outside the box [than the demo], which is what that song needed," said Kent.
• Kent recorded "Something's Gonna Kill Me" for his major label debut and third studio album, Blacktop. He released it on July 10, 2023, via RCA Nashville as the album's second single.