Songfacts®:

• "Wild Ones" is a collaboration between Jessie Murph and country rapper-singer Jelly Roll. The song salutes the thrill-seekers, those who dance on the edge without a care in the world.
• Murph kicks things off, diving into what excites her about the "wild ones." She's all about that daring allure, drawn to the unpredictability and independence these untamed folks bring. Fear isn't even in their vocabulary.
• Jelly Roll is married to Bunnie XO, a model turned podcast host. He drops her name in the verse, showing the world their wild love hasn't cooled, even with marriage, kids, and building their podcast empire.
• Murph and Jelly Roll co-wrote the song with Jeff Gitty (The Weeknd, Victoria Monet, Florida Georgia Line), Aldae (Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes) and Feli Ferraro (Coi Leray, David Guetta, BTS). Feli Ferraro also co-penned Murph's "Pray" single.
• Gitty produced the jittering, electronic-country track. His hip-hop beat incorporates samples of a jangly acoustic guitar.
• Murph first teased "Wild Ones" in June 2023 and started performing the song in her live shows. She made a surprise appearance at Jelly Roll's Austin, Texas gig on September 21, 2023. He introduced her as his "little sister" before they performed the song for the crowd.
• Murph released "Wild Ones" on October 6, 2023. It debuted the next week on the Hot 100 at #49, giving the singer-songwriter her first Top 50 hit. It would have landed on the chart much higher if it hadn't been the week Drake dropped his For All The Dogs album: all 23 of its tracks entered above "Wild Ones."
• The song came from Jessie Murph's attraction to crazy things and chaos. "I don't normally write fun songs, so it's one of my first songs like that - really cool and different," she told Billboard. "I had been in a session all day and we had gotten nothing. In the last 30 minutes, I remember Gitty played this guitar lick and we ended up writing it super fast."
• Murph didn't originally plan on having a feature on this track. "I was just going to put it out," she said. "But last minute, Jelly heard it and he was like, 'I have a verse for this,' and I'm a huge fan of him. I went to one of his shows and sang a cover of 'Simple Man' with him. Then I guess he heard 'Wild Ones' and I was like, 'Oh my God, please be on this.'"
• Jessie Murph's first experience performing in an arena was a spur-of-the-moment decision. After receiving an unexpected invitation from Jelly Roll, Murph drove with her brother to Arkansas, where she joined him on stage to sing "Simple Man." With no rehearsals and just pure spontaneity, the performance turned out to be unforgettable. Jessie described the moment to Z100 New York as a "crazy" feeling, where she nearly blacked out from the sheer energy of the crowd. This unplanned performance also led to their collaboration on "Wild Ones," showing how the best moments often happen by chance.