"Keith" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter

Kaylee Bell Kaylee Bell is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. In 2013, she won the Toyota Star Maker award in Australia, joining the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Samantha McClymont and was the first New Zealand born artist since 1990 winner Keith Urban. She subse ...

from her first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, ''The Red EP'' (2021). Written by Bell with Phil Barton and Lindsay Rimes and produced by the latter, Bell recorded the song in 2018 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 ...

. It was independently released on 15 February 2019. A

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

song, it makes reference to several songs by Australian 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 ...

, which led

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

to consider it as a tribute song to him. "Keith" peaked at number 22 on the New Zealand Hot Singles Chart. In April 2022, Bell sang it on ''

The Voice Australia ''The Voice'' is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice '' ...

'' which made all coaches turn, including Urban himself. Bell was applauded by all coaches for her performance. She also performed the song in 2019 at

Jesse Mulligan Jesse Robert Turi Mulligan is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently works as a co-host for '' The Project'' on Three, an afternoon presenter on RNZ National, and a writer for The New Zealand Herald's Viva Magazine. Career ...

and

Mike Hosking Michael Noel James Hosking IV is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster who has worked for Radio New Zealand and TVNZ and from 2008 has been the weekday breakfast host on Newstalk ZB with "The Mike Hosking Breakfast". He is a supporter ...

's radio shows. It was further promoted by an accompanying live video and a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. In the second visual, a woman is shown alongside her partner while Bell is seen singing.

Background and release

"Keith" was written by Bell with Phil Barton and Lindsay Rimes, with Rimes producing it. Bell recorded the song in 2018 in

, when she brought the idea to Barton and Rimes while staying there. In a July 2019 interview with CMT, Bell revealed that she came up with the idea to use song titles from

to "tell the story of falling in love for the first time and how music and songs take you back". She had already met Urban in 2013, and performed on his Light the Fuse Tour in Australia in 2014 and on his Ripcord World Tour in New Zealand in 2016. "Keith" was independently released as a single on 15 February 2019 in various countries for digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

. A pop remix of the song was also issued in March 2022 for the same formats. On 22 August 2022, it was serviced to American

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stations.

Composition

Musically, "Keith" is a

song which references 12 of Urban's tracks, such as "

Somewhere in My Car "Somewhere in My Car" is a song co-written and recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban. It was released in June 2014 as the fourth international single and fifth overall from his 2013 album ''Fuse''. In December 201 ...

", " Long Hot Summer" and "

Raise 'Em Up "Raise 'Em Up" is a song written by Tom Douglas, Jaren Johnston and Jeffrey Steele and recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban as a duet with American country music singer Eric Church. It was released in January 20 ...

". Bell told ''TimeOut'' she came up with the song's concept in the middle of the night and was on her phone for a year before she decided to make it into the song. According to ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'', it is a

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

"based around some the biggest songs released by Urban". ''The New Zealand Herald'' and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

deemed the track "an ode to rban, while Peter Tuskan of ''

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'' and ''

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'' Joanne Holden opined that Bell pays tribute to Urban due to the references to his song titles. The

New Zealand Music Commission The New Zealand Music Commission (NZMC) ( Māori: ''Te Reo Reka o Aotearoa'') is a government funded arts agency committed to growing New Zealand music business, both domestically and internationally. It is governed by a Board of Trustees made up ...

called it "an ode to the significance of music as it ties into our past". Triple M also asserted that Bell using Urban's song titles "inspire a simple relatable story of young love".

Reception and promotion

Tuskan called "Keith" a "clever country banger" and a "jam enviable of the country legend himself". The staff of Triple M stated that Bell "issue the ultimate tribute" with the song. For the week dated 16 May 2022, "Keith" re-entered the

New Zealand Hot Singles Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

chart and peaked at number 22. On 20 April 2022, Bell performed the song on ''

'', being accompanied by a guitar. All four coaches turned their chairs, with Urban being the first to do so. Bell was applauded by all coaches for her performance. Urban affirmed that he already knew the song, calling it "touching" and saying that he "couldn't believe how catchy it was". Fellow coach

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut studi ...

further labeled it a "smash" and commended Bell for " akinga huge risk" by choosing to perform the song. Upon its release, the song was accompanied by a live performance video, which contains footage of Bell performing at music festival Top Paddock. An official

for the single was issued on Bell's

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channel on 27 June 2019. It depicts a woman spending her time with her partner. Bell is shown in interspersed shots either singing at a bar or in front of a screen. According to CMT, Bell "looks back fondly on her time with a former love" in the visual. On 25 February 2019, she performed "Keith" on

's radio program ''Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan''. Bell gave a rendition of the song during

's show at

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

in March 2019.

Track listing

*Digital download # "Keith"2:51 *Digital download (Pop Remix) # "Keith (Pop Remix)"2:52

Charts

Release history

References

{{reflist, 30em 2019 songs 2019 singles Keith Urban New Zealand country music songs