We now know what Keith Urban‘s new single will be. The Grand Ole Opry member reveals that “Straight Line,” from his latest HIGH album will be released next. The song follows Urban’s recent hit, “Messed Up As Me,” which was the first single released from HIGH.
Although the song has yet to be a single, it was “Straight Line” that Urban first dropped, to give fans a hint of what to expect from HIGH.
“It’s a song that is really about recognizing that life can sometimes just become monotonous and routine,” Urban says of the song. “For me too, for so many people, it can happen slowly. You’re doing your job, you’re showing up Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday, whatever it is, day in, day out. It’s like rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. You’re doing it and you’re being responsible, but slowly but surely you’re like, ‘My life is not so great. It used to be really fun. What the hell happened?’
“Because it’s life,” he continues. “You got to work. You’ve got to pay the bills, you’ve got to take care of things, but it can start to lack color and I wanted a song that was like an alarm clock going off to kind of wake up all of us and reclaim our life really. That’s what ‘Straight Line’ is about.”
Urban wrote “Straight Line” with Chase McGill, Jerry Flowers and Greg Wells. For a songwriter who is known to labor over songs to get them just right, the 57-year-old says that “Straight Line” happened surprisingly fast.
“‘Straight Line’ was just one of those songs that, it happened from a feeling in the studio, playing, and that melody coming and the lyric coming,” Urban shared with Everything Nash during a recent virtual media event. “The song just sort of grew. It just grew really quickly. There are two songs that are on this album that came from two days of writing with three of my buddies that I love writing with, and ‘Straight Line’ was the second of the two songs we wrote.”
Urban, who performed the song at the 2024 CMT Awards, is excited to play “Straight Line” live on his High and Alive World Tour, which kicks off on May 22.
“I just loved the spirit of it,” Urban shares. “I think if anybody has seen us play live, this song for me captures a lot of that feeling of what I’m trying to create in the room that we’re playing in, the feeling I want people to have. I felt like ‘Straight Line’ has that feeling about it, and it seemed like a perfect first song.”
When Urban first dropped “Straight Line,” the New Zealand native said it was a good hint of what fans would ultimately hear on HIGH.
“This is the song that kicks off an album I’m jonesing to share with you all,” Urban said at the time. “I chose it first for a lot of reasons, but particularly because I think it represents an energy and spirit that became a through line of the whole record. I’m gonna cover a lot of themes, emotions and vibes on this album but a very human spirit runs through them all.
“‘Straight Line’ is wanting to break out of a soul-sucking routine that you might be stuck in: maybe in a relationship, a job, with creativity, with yourself…whatever it is !!” he added. “It’s a message of feeling alive again and getting out from under that dark cloud. If you’ve seen us in concert, I hope it gives you that same feeling.”
Urban will be joined on his High and Alive World Tour by Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins. Find “Straight Line” and all of Urban’s music and upcoming shows at KeithUrban.com.