Keith Urban has officially announced his next album, High, set to arrive Sept. 20, and released a new song, “Wildside.”
Urban announced the album on Instagram, saying it was borne out of a “prior record” he started working on in 2022 but never finished. He went on to call High “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!”
As for “Wildside,” it’s a delirious blast of country rock about a good girl with a, well, wild side. Urban said in a statement that the character in the song was partly inspired by the one Joan Cusack plays in School of Rock: “She’s the principal of a school by day, all prim and proper. And then, a few tequilas at night and all bets are off.” (The character in Urban’s song, though, obviously has a Southern twist, even earning the descriptor in the chorus, “Alabamalicious.”)
Urban has been steadily releasing songs throughout 2024, all of which are now set to appear on High: “Straight Line,” “Messed Up as Me,” and “Go Home W U” featuring Lainey Wilson. The album will mark Urban’s first record in four years, following 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1.
Of the new project, Urban said, “I’ve always been drawn toward the subject of living in the moment, because it’s all there is, and it’s hard to do. And these days with so much ‘content’ flying at us, it can feel like drinking from a fire hose.”
Urban originally began working on a new album during a busy 2022, when he was constantly flying between concerts and recording studios in Nashville. He had a title for the record, 615 (Nashville’s area code), and thought the process would keep him “focused and disciplined,” but it ultimately led to a record with “no continuity.”
He continued: “The songs didn’t work together. I learned that what I thought was a framework to create within, turned out to be musically limiting.”
With High, Urban became intrigued by the multiple meanings the word can have: “What makes you ‘high’ can mean whatever you want it to mean,” he said. “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. 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.”
Urban has a bunch of shows scheduled this summer (primarily festival dates), and in October, he’ll kick off a 10-date residency at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas (with additional dates scheduled in February 2025).