Ernest Reveals Post Malone & Morgan Wallen’s Smash Hit, “I Had Some Help,” Only Took 24 Minutes To Write From Start To Finish

Post Malone

Wasting zero time.

Thanks to country music growing at what can only be described as an exponential rate over the past five or so years, there hasn’t been a shortage of smash hits in the genre as of late. Of course, the biggest of these is undoubtedly Chris Stapleton’s cover of “Tennessee Whiskey,” which became the first country song (and only the third song in history) to sell over 20 million units and receive double-diamond status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Then there are other smash hits released within the past decade, such as Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” (12x platinum), Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (12x platinum) and Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” (15x platinum), all of which have been nothing short of cross-over successes, charting well on both the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and procuring over one billion streams a piece on Spotify alone.

Since 2024, however, it’s become pretty clear that Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s Hot 100 chart-topper, “I Had Some Help” is on pace to become not only one of the biggest country songs of the decade but potentially one of the biggest country songs of all time.

Released on May 10, 2024, as Post’s debut country single, “I Had Some Help” was written by Wallen, Post, Ashley Gorley, Chandler Walters, Ernest, Louis Bell, Ryan Vojtesak and Jonathan Hoskins. Upon its release, you pretty much knew that, regardless of its overall quality, it was going to be nothing short of a monster success for the two music giants. And a smash hit it was, debuting at #1 on both the Hot 100 and staying there for an impressive six straight weeks.

From a numbers perspective, it’s been nothing short of a monster. Just 10 months after its release, it reached over one billion streams on Spotify, becoming the fastest country song in history to reach the billion-stream mark. Since then, it currently sits at a staggering 1.38 billion streams on the platform along with a 5x platinum certification from the RIAA.

What’s the most incredible part about the song’s existence? It only took 24 minutes to write.

Appearing on The Net Positive Podcast with John Crist, Ernest opened up about his career both as a songwriter and artist, noting how it’s tough to balance the two. With that being said, however, the most fascinating tidbit came when he discussed the creation of “I Had Some Help.”

Discussing the fact that the best songs of his career haven’t taken very long to write, the “Flower Shops” singer would drop the bomb that the track ultimately only took 24 minutes to complete from start to finish.

“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 and Craig [Wiseman] would tell you the same thing… 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.”

Diving deeper into its creation, Ernest would confirm that the voice note still exists somewhere in Charles Handsome’s files. He’d also explain that Post and Wallen recorded the demo for the track immediately after they wrote it, noting that they drove to the bar that night listening to it.

“It exists. The music’s going; the vibe’s going. We kinda start spitballing ideas; we get a good chunk. Boom, there’s the chorus, second verse. Everybody’s throwing in. And yeah, 24 minutes, we look up like, ‘Alright, let’s record the demo.’ We had Morgan and Post on the demo that evening. 

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

With the song currently sitting with over 1.37 billion streams on Spotify alone and a 5x platinum status, it’s safe to say that was the most profitable 24 minutes of Ernest’s career so far.