"Cop Car" is a song written by Zach Crowell, Sam Hunt, and Matt Jenkins and recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban. It was released in January 2014 as the third international single and fourth overall from Urban's 2013 album ''

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''.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo ballad about two young lovers who are arrested when trespassing together, and "f l in love in the back of a cop car".

Critical reception

Joseph Hudak of '' Country Weekly'' gave the song a B+ grade, saying that " t's a clever concept, elevated to near greatness by its sheer originality." He praised Urban's "earnest" vocals, and said that "the production is slick and alive—though not necessarily squarely 'country'." Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave it an identical rating, saying that he did not believe its storyline, but said that "Keith Urban’s heartfelt delivery and careful choice of what lines to emphasize keep the proceedings grounded. He’s so effective at capturing the feeling of falling in love that the specifics of the event surrounding the moment are appropriately secondary to the emotions at play." Thom Jurek of AllMusic wrote that " e muted drum loop that fuels the shimmering 'Cop Car,' is layered in atmospherics worthy of '' Achtung Baby'', but the melody is pure country." The song was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the

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but lost to

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

's " Something in the Water".

Chart performance

"Cop Car" peaked at number eight on the US ''

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Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart in May 2014, making it his lowest-peaking single on that chart since 1999. As of June 2014, the song has sold 772,000 copies in the US. On June 20, 2014, the single was certified platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for sales of over a million digital units in the United States.

Music video

The music video was directed by John Urbano and premiered in January 2014.

Personnel

Compiled from liner notes. *Zach Crowell — programming, electric guitar,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, bass guitar, piano, percussion,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, background vocals *John Fields — bass guitar *Devin Malone —

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pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

, electric guitar * Chris McHugh —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Russell Terrell — background vocals *Keith Urban — all vocals, electric guitar, EBow

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Sam Hunt version

Sam Hunt—who co-wrote the song originally—recorded his version of it on his debut studio album ''

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'', which was released on October 27, 2014. Hunt explains that the reason he included the song on his album is because "After writing the songs on the record, it was like a movie, and "Cop Car" was a pivotal scene in that movie. Even though Keith Urban had recorded it, I felt it still had a place on the record."

Chart performance

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2014 singles Keith Urban songs Songs written by Zach Crowell Songs written by Matt Jenkins Songs written by Sam Hunt Capitol Records Nashville singles 2013 songs Sam Hunt songs Song recordings produced by Shane McAnally Songs about cars Country ballads