It's a good time to be Kylie Morgan.
The EMI Nashville singer-songwriter picked up her first gold single, “If He Wanted to He Would,” on March 14. He has begun playing coveted slots at arena-level concerts. and is 16 months into a fulfilling marriage to fellow artist Jay Allen. Her hilarity, career progression and romance come together on “Two Night Stands,” released to country radio via PlayMPE on March 18.
Not that Morgan planned it that way. She didn't really intend to reveal much about how she met her husband, but the tale fit the idea of a song bursting into a small timeline, and she just let the narrative flow.
“It was definitely a part of our history,” he says. “It was a very organic thing that happened.”
Upping the ante, “Two Night Stands” evolved into the kind of material he hoped to create: “an anthemic, uptempo, fun love song.”
Although “Two Night Stands” ended up telling Morgan's story, it began as someone else's experience. A lifelong friend who has seen Morgan's rise from budding talent to national artist hit the road as a weekend guest last fall when Morgan opened for Old Dominion. During a chat in the green room at one of the shows, the friend said she had noticed that when she was hooking up with men who weren't in a live-in relationship, they always just had a one-night stand next to the bed. He thought maybe there was a song idea with possible lyrics, only to meet a one night stand while on a one night stand.
Morgan thought she had potential, and mentioned it as she completed a write-up last Halloween with Shane McAnally (“We Don't Fight Anymore,” “half of my hometown”) and Track45 member Ben Johnson (“Bulletproof,” “Give Heaven Some Hell”) at McAnally's home in Santa Barbara, California. Morgan had just two hours to write the song, which had morphed into a story about how one night led to a wedding and two night stands next door in bed It had to be playful, and Johnson steered them in that direction with a slick, busy guitar riff.
“It almost sounds like 'It's A Great Day to Be Alive' or one of those '90s riffs,” says Johnson. “The song didn't end up sounding super '90s, just the riff itself.”
With that organic hook providing a ton of caffeine, they went to work first on the chorus, where the “two night stands” hook balances the front and back of the song section like two night stands balance a couple's bed. First they gave the chorus a busy melody and then placed a series of verses on the notes.
“If you need to say a lot in a few words, [that] it's a lot harder,” Johnson says. “It's actually easier when you have more syllables because you don't feel so limited and you can say whatever you want. That, I don't remember feeling restricted.”
The tune started with a downbeat, but picked up sharply in the middle of the chorus. “That's a Shane tune, for sure,” says Morgan. “He's a genius when it comes to this. Just when you think the chorus couldn't get any better, he throws in another section where you're like, “Oh yeah.”
It was quite intentional when they focused on the lyrics. For starters, they put more space between the phrases in a move away from the chorus. “You want contrast for all of your sections—at least I always feel that way,” Johnson says. “So if the chorus is too wordy, the verse will be too sparse.”
The lyrics were also on purpose. They set up two people meeting in a bar in the opening frame, leading to the celebratory chorus. In verse two, Morgan insisted on explaining the one-night stand, saying “I never do stuff like that.” And after noting that the pair share the same letterbox and last name, they called the hookup the “best bad decision I've ever made.”
“That's the essence of the song,” notes Johnson.
They added a bridge that cemented the pair's current committed status – more importantly, it provided a musical break before the song returned for a final chorus. Johnson had made much of the show as written, but with the clock ticking down, Morgan only had a few minutes before she had to get in for the airport. She sounded a little groggy as she laid down a vocal – unwittingly perfect for a key nightstand song – and then headed home.
In November, he recorded the tracks with McAnally producing. He stacked multiple string instruments playing the signature riff and had drummer Evan Hutchings play several different tracks so they could experiment with different tempos during the mix. Morgan recreated the rainy morning voice as Johnson produced overdubs, though this shallow chorus presented a challenge.
“There's no room to breathe,” he says. “There are so many words, so I originally had to do the chorus in two separate parts when we recorded it. When I do it live, I have to really concentrate when that chorus hits to take a really long breath, because there's nowhere to breathe.”
“One Night Stands” had the kind of energy and upbeat attitude that made it a potential radio single, but Morgan also realized it had some unexpected relevance to her home life. She bought some wooden nightstands that were a little unusual, but perfect for the bedroom space she shares with Allen.
“It looks so great,” she says. “So guess what!? They are actually bar stools, and they have a curve to them. We love them so much, we still use them, so now I just have to make sure that when I put water on it, I have to put it right in the middle of the nightstand.”
The stools that become nightstands are symbolic of her relationship with Allen, which began with drinks and led to two nightstands. He hopes the parallels bode well for the future of “Two Night Stands.” Especially since the song fits the sound he was aiming for this time.
“I wanted something a little easier when it came to the second stab at the radio,” he says, “with a little more swing and not having to overthink anything. You know exactly what the song is about.”
Actually. This is Kylie Morgan.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/kylie-morgan-two-night-stands-makin-tracks-1235658635/