Keith Urban has co-written plenty of his own hits, including his recent No. 1 hit, “Wild Hearts.” But he has also written songs for and with other artists, including one for Richard Marx. The New Zealand native co-wrote “One Day Longer,” from Marx’s forthcoming Songwriter album, out on September 30.
“We wrote it many, many years ago,” Urban shared with Everything Nash and other outlets, during a virtual media event. “He just texted me last week and said he had included the song on a project he was doing. So that’s the first I heard about it. But I met Richard in the early to mid-2000s, it must have been.”
Marx has also been a contributor on several of Urban’s songs, including “Better Life,” “Everybody” and “Long Hot Summer.” Their combined talents, according to Urban, give them a perfect creative connection.
“We just kind of clicked,” Urban says of their collaborations. “Our pop sensibilities, I think, [and] melodic hooky sensibilities really blended really well. And he was able to bring what he does and what I do, and we sort of found a way to bring those worlds together into those songs.”
Marx might have liked the song enough to put it on Songwriter, even if Urban didn’t. The pop superstar admits Urban was not as much of a fan of “One Day Longer” as he was, and in fact didn’t even remember that the song was written.
“I sent Keith a voice note saying that I was putting out ‘One Day Longer,’ and he texts me back and he says, ‘I have no recollection of that song, but it sounds really good,'” Marx tells People with a laugh. “He sounded like he couldn’t believe that we would write something so good together.”
Urban is currently on his The Speed of Now World Tour, which already includes Ingrid Andress. The father of two will soon be joined by another artist, Tyler Hubbard, who will also serve as Urban’s opening act beginning on September 3. The invitation came, at least in part, because Urban is a fan of Hubbard in many ways, including Hubbard’s songwriting prowess.
“First of all, I’ve always loved [Tyler’s] voice,” Urban tells Apple Music Country’s Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen. “We got to write together a few months ago for the first time, and we wrote a song that he ended up recording that I’m very excited about. And it was really great being in a writing room with him. I was curious about his process and his way of approaching things. And I was really impressed with his compositional skills as a writer. He’s really, really good.”
Songwriter is a massive, 20-track project, which includes five songs from four different genres, including pop, rock, country and ballads. Darius Rucker also co-wrote another song for the record, “Breaking My Heart.” Download or stream “One Day Longer” here.
Find all of Urban’s music and tour dates at KeithUrban.com.