''Graffiti U'' is the tenth studio album by New Zealand-born Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

. It was released on 27 April 2018, through Hit Red and

Capitol Records Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...

. The album was heavily influenced by experiences from Urban's youth, and includes the singles "

Female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

", "

Parallel Line In geometry, parallel lines are coplanar straight lines that do not intersect at any point. Parallel planes are planes in the same three-dimensional space that never meet. ''Parallel curves'' are curves that do not touch each other or inters ...

", " Coming Home" (featuring

Julia Michaels Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...

), and "

Never Comin' Down "Never Comin Down" is a song recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music artist Keith Urban, released in August 2018 as the third single from his 2018 album ''Graffiti U''. The song was written by Josh Kerr, James Abrahart and Shy Carter ...

". The album has received mixed reviews from critics but received a nomination for CMA Award for Album of the Year.

Background

Keith Urban said that his first influences were records made by such artists as

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

, and

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

that his father collected. After quitting school at age 15, he performed in cover bands that played a variety of musical styles. Urban also explained that ''Graffiti U'' was a combination of those styles he performed during his youth and listened to in his father's record collection. ''Graffiti U'' is neither a song title nor a lyric on the record, but rather a phrase that Urban had come up with. The word "graffiti" came to him while he was working the album, because the process was like graffiti for him. "I have always loved that word, loved the sound of the word, and have loved that it's art-driven," he said. Urban added that "graffiti is free and pure, and very personal" and said, "I thought that this record feels like that to me." He also mentioned that the "U" part was " oththe audience ndthe listener".

Promotion

The song "

" was performed live during the 2017 CMA Awards. Urban also performed. On 23 April, he performed the song at a

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

"Fans First" event in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

along with "

" and " Wasted Time", from his previous album '' Ripcord''. At the event, he took questions from fans and displayed murals created by five local artists inspired by songs from the album. he performed the song at UMG showcase at CRS (Country Radio Seminar) with Nicolle Galyon who sang back up vocals on the track and was a co-writer of the song. https://twitter.com/keithurban/status/961396072684904449

Singles

" was released as the album's lead single on 8 November 2017. It was inspired by the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

. It reached number 12 on the US ''Billboard''

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, his first single to miss the top 10 since his 1999 hit " It's a Love Thing". "

" was released as the album's second single on 18 January 2018 in Australia and Great Britain, but was not released to country radio. The album's third single, " Coming Home" featuring American singer-songwriter

was released on 21 March 2018. This song peaked at number 3 on Country Airplay. Finishing off the single releases was "

”. This song peaked at number 18, making it his first American album since 2006's “

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing'' (stylized as Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing) is the fifth studio album by Australian country music singer Keith Urban. It is his fourth album release in the United States, and his fifth for Capitol Na ...

” to not produce a single number one hit, and his first album since 2010's “ Get Closer” not to have a single reach the top 40 on the Billboard

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart.

Critical reception

''Graffiti U'' has received mixed to negative reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album three out of five stars, criticizing Urban's attempt to address complicated sexual politics. He pointed to the song "Gemini", questioning the narrator's solidarity due to the provocative lyrics. Jonathan Bernstein of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' gave a two-and-a-half-star review of the album, saying "Urban deserves credit for refusing to rest on his laurels during the height of his arena-headlining mid-career, but on ''Graffiti U'' he ends up shining brightest in his well-worn comfort zones while struggling, perhaps for the first time, when he tries to break new sonic and lyrical ground".

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Graffiti U'' debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 145,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s of which 137,000 were in pure album sales. The album benefited from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with Urban's latest tour, which began on 15 June 2018. It became Urban's seventh top 10 album in the country. It also debuted atop the

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

chart, becoming Urban's sixth number-one album on that chart. In its second week, the album fell to number 18 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number three on the Top Country Albums chart, with 17,100 copies sold that week. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 24, 2019. As of July 2019, the album has sold 282,400 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Adapted from

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. ;Notes

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes "Coming Home" *

- featured vocals * J.R. Rotem -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, programming,

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 ...

- all vocals,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

"Never Comin' Down" *James "J-Hart" Abrahart - gang vocals *

Shy Carter Blake Anthony Carter (born August 21, 1984), known professionally as Shy Carter, is an American songwriter, record producer, rapper and singer. He has written for Meghan Trainor, Jason Derulo, Charlie Puth, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, ...

- vocal percussion, breakdown vocals, gang vocals *Josh Kerr - programming, gang vocals *

Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to L.A. in 2000. K ...

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 ...

*Keith Urban - bass guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals background vocals, gang vocals "Same Heart" *Jason Evigan -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programming *Keith Urban - electric guitar, lead vocals, background vocals *Emily Weisband - background vocals "My Wave" *

- lead vocals, background vocals *Keith Urban -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, lead vocals, background vocals *

Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

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, drums, programming "Parallel Line" *

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also ...

- keyboards, programming *Johnny McDaid - keyboards, programming *

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

- bass guitar *

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

- acoustic guitar, programming *Keith Urban - electric guitar, all vocals "Drop Top" *Kassi Ashton - lead vocals, background vocals *Jimmy Robbins - keyboards, programming *Jesse Shatkin - drums, percussion, programming, keyboards, synthesizer *Keith Urban - guitar, bass guitar, piano, percussion, lead vocals, background vocals "Way Too Long" *David Bukovinszky -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

*Mattias Bylund - string arranger *Johan Carlsson - keyboards *Michael Engström - bass guitar *Oscar Holter - keyboards, percussion, programming *Mattias Johansson -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Keith Urban - all vocals, acoustic guitar "Horses" *

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record labe ...

- background vocals * Mozella - background vocals *Matt Musty - drums *Pino Palladino - bass guitar *Matt Rad - guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion, background vocals *Jamie Scott - background vocals *Keith Urban - guitar, lead vocals, background vocals *Eric Valentine - drums "Gemini" *Ian Kirkpatrick - keyboards, programming *Seth Rausch - drums *Keith Urban - guitar, lead vocals, background vocals "Texas Time" *

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

- bass guitar, keyboards *Drew Erickson -

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, keyboards *Aaron Sterling - drums, percussion *Max Townsley - acoustic guitar,

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, background vocals *Keith Urban - guitar, lead vocals, background vocals "Love the Way It Hurts (So Good)" *Ben Berger - keyboards, programming, background vocals *Ryan McMahon - guitar, programming, background vocals *Ryan Rabin - keyboards, programming, background vocals *Keith Urban - lead vocals, background vocals "Female" * Ross Copperman - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, programming *

Nicolle Galyon Nicolle Anne Galyon (born July 22, 1984) is a singer, songwriter, producer, record label executive, & publishing executive from Sterling, Kansas. She has written songs for Lady A, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Dan + Shay, Flori ...

- background vocals *Charlie Judge - keyboards, synthesizer,

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...

- background vocals *Keith Urban - electric guitar, lead vocals "Steal My Thunder" *Jason Evigan - electric guitar, keyboards, programming *Keith Urban - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals, background vocals *Emily Weisband - background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Capitol Records albums Keith Urban albums Albums produced by Benny Blanco Albums produced by Jason Evigan Albums produced by Jesse Shatkin