Ernest Reveals the Shocking Amount of Time It Took to Write Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s Smash-Hit

It didn’t take long for some of country music’s biggest stars to write a smash hit. During an appearance on The Net Positive Podcast with John Crist, Ernest revealed that it took less than 30 minutes to write “I Had Some Help.”

Released in 2024, Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s track quickly became a success. The song, which the two artists penned alongside Ernest, Ashley Gorley, Chandler Walters, Louis Bell, and Ryan Vojtesak, debuted in the top spot of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, a position that it held for six weeks.

“If we’re all honest with ourselves and we’re all good creatives, the best songs don’t take long. That’s been consistent for my career,” Ernest said. “… We wrote ‘I Had Some Help’ in like 24 minutes. There’s a 24-minute voice note of ‘I Had Some Help’ from start to finish.”

On that voice memo, Ernest said “the music’s going” and “the vibe’s going,” as the group starts “spitballing ideas.”

“We get a good chunk. Boom, there’s the chorus, second verse. Everybody’s throwing in,” Ernest said. “And yeah, 24 minutes, we look up like, ‘Alright, let’s record the demo.’ We had Morgan and Post on the demo that evening.”

Ernest Praises Post Malone’s Country Turn

After the men recorded the demo, they got in the car to listen to the track.

“We drove around from the studio to the bar,” Ernest said. “That night we were listening to ‘I Had Some Help,’ [by] Morgan Wallen [and] Post Malone. We were like, ‘Oh yeah, we got one.’”

From Ernest’s account, the writing session for “I Had Some Help” was an ideal one in Posty’s mind.

“I just want to hang out, have a beer, listen to your ideas,” Posty told The New York Times of how he collaborates with other artists.

While Posty believes that “there’s a lot of people set in their ways,” he said he wants “to make the song work in the best way for the song.”

The country community has taken kindly to Posty’s methods, with Ernest telling the outlet, “He came [to Nashville] and baptized himself in the culture and the community.”

“It’s not a facade,” he added of Posty. “I’ve seen him at 3 in the morning after drinking beers and he’s the exact same kind spirit he is at 3 p.m. when he’s rolling into the studio.”

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