Keith Urban very clearly remembers the moment he realized he needed to scrap an entire record. The 56-year-old, who just announced his new album, HIGH, will be out on September 20, is sharing more details of the album that wasn’t, which he worked on in 2022.
“At the time I was on tour,” Urban says. “I’d do a concert, go back to Nashville to record, do a concert, and come back to record, and over again. So, I thought I’d call the album 615. That’d keep me on track – focused and disciplined.”
Urban, whose last album, The Speed of Now Part 1, was released in 2020, in hindsight realized that his plan to make a cohesive set of tunes didn’t at all work the way he intended.
“There was no continuity,” Urban explains. “The songs didn’t work well together. I learned that what I thought was a framework to create within, turned out to be musically limiting.”
Now, fortunately, Urban is thrilled with how HIGH turned out, even if it was an arduous process to get to that point.
“What makes you ‘high’ can mean whatever you want it to mean,” the sober singer said when announcing the record. “It might be physical, spiritual, herbal, meditative, chemical or musical, but it’s definitely a place of utopia.”
“For me it’s my family, my friends, and this rollercoaster musical journey I’m on,” he continued. “Playing guitar, writing songs and the place where I always feel high – playing live. Every night I get a chance to bring an energy and a release to people.”
The father of two also spoke about HIGH on social media, and the unfortunate events that led to something he is incredibly proud to have created.
“This album is the result of a prior record I started in 2022,” Urban said on social media. “It’s 40 minutes top to bottom, and is completely expressive, true, honest and is so much more of what I actually wanted to say when making that scrapped record. I hope these songs bring you joy, levity, some new understanding, energy, and escape!”
Urban has been holding these songs close to his heart for a long time, waiting for the right time to release them, and is now thrilled that everyone else will get to hear what he worked on for so long.
“I’m psyched to get it out,” Urban tells People. “It’s been a very unique journey putting all these songs together and shaping the record. And in a lot of ways, the record shaped itself. It had an energy and momentum of its own that I just started following. And I can’t put that into any other way, but that’s kind of what happened is that it felt like the record told me where to go and how to make it. It’s wild.”
When announcing the release of HIGH, Urban also released “Wildside,” one of 12 songs on HIGH that also includes includes his current Top 25 single, “Messed Up As Me,” along with “Straight Line,” and his “Go Home W U” duet with Lainey Wilson.
Urban will kick off his HIGH in Vegas residency on October 4 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Alll of Urban’s music and upcoming shows, at KeithUrban.com.