Keith Urban released latest album The Speed of Now Part 1 last year, and now he’s shared a video for its opening track.
‘Out the Cage’ features contributions from country-trap artist Breland along with funk legend Nile Rodgers –a somewhat unlikely collaboration that’s anchored by the dance-oriented, electronica-inspired track’s hyperactive percussion.
“The freneticism of the rhythm makes me wanna take off and start running or… just break something,” Urban explains. “‘Out the Cage’ began with an idea I had to build upon a 90’s English house breakbeat rhythm; I’ve always loved Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, those kinds of rhythmic energies.”
One of four songs Urban wrote during the coronavirus pandemic, the song’s lyrical content centred around themes of freedom. “I really wanted this song to speak to liberation of all sorts,” Urban says.
“Even if that’s somebody in a dead-end job, somebody that’s stuck in a relationship that’s going nowhere and they can’t get out, someone imprisoned in their own mind.”
The new video for ‘Out the Cage’ sees Urban and Breland jamming out to the song together, with Nile Rodgers’ performing remotely from Connecticut. The song marks Urban’s second collaboration with Rodgers, after the Chic bandleader teamed up with Urban for ‘Sun Don’t Let Me Down’ from 2016’s Ripcord.
Urban will head out on an Australian tour in late 2021, playing arenas across the country throughout December – Birds of Tokyo will be along for the ride.
