How we wrote ‘Wanted’ by Hunter Hayes

Hunter Hayes: “If there’s a grand, romantic gesture that I’m comfortable with, it’s going to be a song”

Needing a romantic gesture to impress a girl, the American country-pop star turned to what he knows best: a song

In 2011, Hunter Hayes’s success skyrocketed with the release of his self-titled album. Unbelievably for someone who had just turned 20, it was the country-pop star’s fifth studio record. His first outing with a major record label, Atlantic Records – whom he signed with in September 2010 – it was the single Wanted that earned particular praise. Reaching No 1 on both the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and the Canada Country chart, the track made Hayes the youngest solo male performer to achieve the top spot on the former and would go on to sell more than 3.7 million copies. In addition, it earned Hayes a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.

Hayes co-wrote Wanted with songwriter Troy Verges, whose catalogue includes tunes for artists such as Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and more. Hayes and Verge have also collaborated on numerous other well-loved songs, such as I Want Crazy, Flashlight and Wild Blue. Penning Wanted began at a unique setting in Nashville’s legendary Music Row neighbourhood. Here, Hayes met Verges in a building where other songs from his 2011 album were also made, but on this day, he chose to write in a piano room he’d not yet explored. A crush Hayes had on a female friend at the time, plus a conversation about relationships he’d engaged in with a married acquaintance, led to him creating the indelible 2010s hit…

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Released: 5 March 2012
Artist: Hunter Hayes
Label: Atlantic
Songwriters: Hunter Hayes, Troy Verges
Producers: Dann Huff, Hunter Hayes
UK chart position: –
US chart position: 16

“Troy Verges shared this really cool old house just off of Music Row. There were two or three houses together, and a bunch of writers who had writing rooms. There was a studio in one of the buildings. It was classic old Nashville, red brick buildings. Troy had this grand piano in this room that was sky blue. It was an interesting house because it wasn’t two levels or three levels. There were a lot of split levels. Every room had its own floor, but they were only little rooms attached. It had a lot of personality. The doors [had] a bunch of stained glass type of things going on. It was a very creative place. I’d written in the other room with Troy and [singer-songwriter] Gordie [Sampson] quite a few times, and there was just something about that day. I’d never written in that room. I was like, ‘Can we write in the piano room?’ It was just Troy and me.

“I had recently had a conversation with somebody who was talking about their marriage and their theory on why it was so successful. I forget exactly how he said it, but he was like, ‘We don’t look at this as a need. It’s not, “I need you,” it’s, “I want you.” It’s a different thing.’ And obviously, I’m talking from a different perspective in a different time. So I think what I felt was like this; when you want somebody, it’s, ‘I choose to love you every day. I want to be in your life, I want you in my life.’ It’s a different longing. “Need” is a very different word and a very different thing. I really loved that.

How we wrote ‘Wanted’ by Hunter Hayes first published in Songwriting Magazine Winter 2023

“At the time, I had this crush on this girl that I was friends with, and I didn’t know how to tell her. She liked grand romantic gestures and I was like, ‘Well, if there’s a grand, romantic gesture that I’m comfortable with, it’s going to be a song.’ I can’t remember if I told Troy everything. I’m pretty sure I did. He creates a really safe environment, and he’s really great at talking through everything and feeling very therapeutic.

“The intro piano riff was just what I started with, and the song wrote itself in a matter of… I’m sure every time I talk about it, the time gets less, but it feels like it was within an hour that we had most of the song.

“The verse was really easy because it was very conversational, and that’s what I love about writing with Troy. He writes very conversationally. The song feels very conversational because, as I come up with a lyric, we’re not sitting there editing it for three hours. I come up with a lyric, he comes up with a lyric, and then we go back, and we fine-tune. It’s a very natural, conversational process, which I’m so grateful for. And again, that’s what I love about writing with him. It was just one of those days; I sat at the piano, he sat with a guitar. I don’t want to speak for him, but from my understanding, he was also kind of at the beginning of a potential relationship and was relating to the topic of wanting to tell somebody how much they matter to you and how you want to love them and be in their life and how you want them in yours.

“Thinking of songs when you finish, and I was actually listening to an interview this morning about this, there are some songs you finish, and you just feel really good about it. I think the mistake that I’ve made or not made in the past is [saying], ‘I think this is a single.’ Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. Or, ‘I think this is a radio song,’ sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. It depends on the climate. There are a lot of factors, but there’s always a feeling when you finish.

“Missing You, is that feeling of, ‘There’s something here, man.’ I think we all were really checked in with our emotions, with our feelings, how we connected with this topic. I can feel it in the song. I think that’s when the thing inside of you feels like it’s been released. That freedom feels like, ‘Man, this song’s got something. It’s there.’ I think I had that feeling for the song. I never thought of it as a single because, at the time, I was having these classic conversations with the label [saying], ‘Oh, we need a first single,’ which is exhausting and pointless. But I didn’t think about this song in that context. I just thought about it as a song that said what I wanted it to say, and I was excited to have it.

“I didn’t have anything like it in my catalogue at the time. I played it for a manager that night because we were having a meeting at Warner Brothers the next day. So I was like, ‘Man, I wrote this today.’ Anytime a songwriter says, ‘Yeah, I wrote this today,’ … you just kind of hold on because they’re probably excited about it, and there’s a honeymoon phase for songs. But I played it for him, and he freaked out. The next day, I played it for Warner on acoustic, and they were like, ‘Well, we’ve got a single.’ It wasn’t our first single necessarily, but it was one of those songs where we said, ‘Okay, now we have multiple singles, and we feel like we have a plan.’ They felt like they had what they needed, and I had what I needed to go back and play it for the girl… It didn’t work out. The song did, and that’s what matters.”

Find out all of Hunter’s latest news via his official website hunterhayes.com

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