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HunterGirl spoke about her journey from her run on American Idol to her status as a country artist in Nashville, Tennessee.
The 2022 Idol runner-up, 27, shared her story on a new episode of Get Real with Caroline Hobby. HunterGirl, whose real name is Hunter Wolkonowski, spoke about her newest single, “Somewhere Wild,” during her conversation with Caroline Hobby. HunterGirl wrote “Somewhere Wild” with Jeff Garrison and Bob DiPiero “from a place of feeling lost and discovering herself inside that lostness.”
“‘Somewhere Wild’ was a song that just fell out in the writing room,” HunterGirl said when she released the single earlier this month. “It was exactly where my heart was at the beginning of this year. When I was little, my Grandpa had a place by the creek he called The Wilderness. He made it magical. You had to say The Wilderness three times before running through the woods with my sister and cousins, and for a moment it felt like anything could happen.
“As you get older, those words, ‘anything can happen,’ start to mean something very different. The unknown becomes a scary place to be. This year I felt like I was back in The Wilderness, but this time I was lost in it,” the Winchester, Tennessee-born artist admitted. “‘Somewhere Wild’ became my way back. It was a journey of finding myself again and reigniting that spark of endless possibility. It is a reminder that it is never too late to grow, and that sometimes being lost is what leads you home.”
The 2024 CMT Next Women of Country artist also “shares how an express ticket straight to Hollywood and clear signs from God showed up when she was at her weakest and changed everything,” during her appearance on Get Real. “We talk about navigating the whirlwind of Idol and instant fame then doing the deeper work of finding herself again by integrating who she has always been with who she is becoming. Her new single ‘Somewhere Wild’ was written from a place of feeling lost and discovering herself inside that lostness. We also touch on ‘Pretty Much,’ a raw relatable moment that speaks to the quiet insecurities so many women carry. She is a master songwriter putting real life and real faith into her music. We laughed we cried and had the best time getting to know HunterGirl.”
Find the full episode of Get Real with Caroline Hobby on iHeartRadio here.