Keith Urban was thrown by how his song Female, an ode to respecting women, was seen as a response to sexual harassment.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Urban performed the song at the Country Music Awards in November and many people assumed it was inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement.
The song, which features on Urban's new album Graffiti U, alludes to harassment in one verse but he says it's about much more than that.
"Having young girls, nine and seven, I felt that was just a really important song. I wanted that song captured and I was thrown that it got labelled a sort of sexual harassment response song," Urban told AAP.
"There's two lines in the second verse that speak to that and everything else in that song is just this beautiful prayer of hope and gratitude, it's that and so much more. So it's been an interesting thing trying to have that singular tag move away from the song that it's not just about that."
The empowering song is just one of 13 new tracks on Urban's album, which has already gone to the top spot in the US country charts.
It's a continuation of the genre-hopping Urban experimented with on his last two albums Fuse and Ripcord, but Graffiti U pushes Urban even more into the realm of pop and even reggae at times.
"It's not really country. Not much of the record is. It's its own thing. I think genre is dead, I think you just make music that's really honest and all my music has always been that way, it's just my muse has moved a little bit to wherever it is now and I just don't question it," Urban said.
He says his Emmy-Award winning wife Nicole Kidman inspired him with her fearless approach to her own art.
"Nic will try anything. She doesn't filter anything when she's trying something," he said.
"All that stuff can come afterwards I think, choosing whether you want to say that or do that afterwards but not while you're doing it. She's been so great at changing the way that I create."
In fact, several of the songs on the album were written with Kidman in mind, in particular the song Gemini which describes her as "a maniac in the bed, but a brainiac in her head".
Julia Michaels, who co-wrote Justin Bieber's Sorry and Ed Sheeran's Dive, collaborated with Urban on the track and encouraged him to include that line.
"She goes 'It's a fun song, just sing it'. I couldn't argue with that logic which is 'you feel that way about your wife, it's about your wife, it's super fun it's super sexy. Just f***ing say it'," he said.
*Graffiti U is out now
Australian Associated Press