NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JUNE 09: Keith Urban performs during day 1 of CMA Fest 2022 at Nissan Stadium on June 09, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Keith Urban recently shared in a press interview that he had to scrap an entire album he had been working on for a year because it didn’t feel right.

The album that eventually became “THE SPEED OF NOW: Part 1” was a result of this decision.  Urban trusted his instincts and the songs themselves to guide him in creating a cohesive and authentic project. “It was in February last year, and I brought the whole album in, finished, and I could feel as I was playing it that it wasn’t the album,” says Urban. “‘Messed Up as Me’ was part of that album, so there were certain songs that wanted to be a part of a different record.”

The album’s lead single, “Straight Line,” was one of the new songs that emerged from this unconventional creative journey. “This never actually happened to me before, where literally, like, the songs told me where they wanted to go and what kind of album they wanted to be a part of,” Keith said.