Wild Ones is the second studio album by American country music artist Kip Moore, released on August 21, 2015, by MCA Nashville.
After its first two singles underperformed on the radio, Moore decided to scrap the project to write and record new material, crafting a more organic hard rock sound that supports the personal stories told throughout the thirteen tracks he co-wrote.
[5][6] Moore expressed excitement about preparing his sophomore effort, saying if the debut album was a "very nostalgic, looking back – type record", this would be "sonically and lyrically" intense and focus on the present.
[11][12] After "Dirt Road" stalled on the radio and the album's expected fall release was pushed back into 2015, Moore scrapped it entirely to write and record a collection of new material.
[13] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Moore said that the overall sound of the album was more organic after several soundchecks creating different grooves and having the band play various parts of the songs.
[14][16] The opening title track was described by Jon Freeman of Nash Country Weekly as "a simmering hymn about partying all night long.
[2] Magic" is described as a "soul-rock scorcher" that has Moore receive an unexplainable feeling he wants to hold onto, something he came up with because of his distrust of the fairy tale love songs on the radio.
[31][32] On January 12, 2015, Moore was announced as an opening act alongside Maddie & Tae and Canaan Smith for Dierks Bentley on his Sounds of Summer Tour, starting on June 5 in Raleigh's Walnut Creek Amphitheatre and ending on September 12 in Bonner Springs' Cricket Wireless Amphitheater.
[33][34][35] On August 5 of that year, Moore announced a 20-city North American tour to support Wild Ones ahead of its release, beginning at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and ending at Richmond, Virginia.
"[17] Entertainment Weekly's Madison Vain commented on Moore's musical aspirations: "His follow-up has bigger ambitions: Wild Ones is Springsteen-style rock that reaches for the stadium's nosebleeds.
"[2] Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time also gave note of the album's overall sound being more rock heavy and encouraging crowd participation, and Moore's musicianship taking cues from Church, Springsteen ("Complicated", "I'm to Blame") and John Mellencamp ("Comeback Kid"), concluding that he "doesn't exactly go wild in stretching out, but with a voice that's real and songs that suit him well, the wait was the hardest part.
The magazine's writer Madison Vain said that Moore's "allegiance to classic rock" throughout the album may have hurt him than help him, noting that even accessible anthems like "Lipstick" and "Come and Get It" carry "too much heft for airplay EP's", but concluded that: "In the end, he may have written his own best defense on the swampy kiss-off "That's Alright With Me" when he growls, "Call me country, call me hippie/A wild cat from Dixie And if you do or don't like what you see/That's alright with me."
The magazine's writer Linda Ryan said that Moore's raspy delivery of "blue-collar heartland rock" calls back to Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" when telling stories about "young rabble-rousers" not caring who judges them.
She concluded that: "By the time he wraps up the record with the moody "Comeback Kid," he's tapped into the teenage rebel inside his listeners, reassuring underdogs that there's always a second chance.