Keith Urban is inching closer to the release of a new studio album expected later this year, and after two years in the works, Urban is detailing the blood, sweat, and actual tears that have gone into it.

During his time on the Friday Night Takeover with Audacy’s Rob + Holly, the 56-year-old shared the creation of the album started more than two years ago before hitting a major roadblock and causing Keith to take things back to the drawing board.

“I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do. I went about recording all these songs and I ended up with 13 songs and in February of 2023, I took that album in — very excited to play it for my team —  and about 4 or 5 songs in, I could feel all this air going out of my everything — deflated — because I knew it wasn’t finished... I knew it just wasn’t there.”

Overwhelmed by the dissatisfaction he felt over a project he labored on for the past year, Urban knew he needed to re-group and get to work on a more authentic album, but first, he let the tears flow.

“It would have been so much easier to just go, ‘It’s fine,’ but I’ve got to be 100% in. I can’t be 99% in otherwise it’s not gonna work,” he expressed. “I hate saying this, but it’s so true — I left that meeting, went out and sat in my car and I bawled my eyes out. I literally did. I know that sounds pathetic to a lot of people, but after putting in that much work and knowing what was ahead of me work-wise, which I didn’t want to do, it just gutted me. It was like being kicked in the stomach.”

In the process of picking himself up, Urban got the encouragement he needed from a few of the songs he’d already written which will appear on the forthcoming project. One of those songs being his newly released single, “Messed Up As Me.”

“There was maybe four songs, ‘Messed Up As Me’ was one of them… I know this sounds weird, but it was truly like the songs said to me, ‘we’re not part of this thing that you’ve done, we’re part of another thing and if you are willing to take us from this thing and get back in the trenches and finish it, we’ll tell you all the other songs that you’re missing,” Urban shared. “It’s literally like the songs told me what was missing.”

Guided by the music, Urban took another year to double down and create a new album grounded in the songs that had spoken to him. The result is an album that he’s 100% in on and can release with pride when the time comes.

“It’s a more concise record. It’s got all the flow and diversity that I think particularly our concerts are known for,” he said before sharing the song, “Straight Line” which arrived earlier this month is a solid representation of what to expect. “I chose ’Straight Line’ for the first song because I felt like it really captured the feeling that I hope people feel when they come see us in concert. That feeling of just forgetting about life and losing yourself in this utopian place for a couple of hours and just loving everything.”

Hear about what’s to come with the new album, Keith’s creative journey and more by checking out Keith Urban’s full conversation with Rob + Holly above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Rob + Holly