Keith Urban Leaves ‘Hotel California’ In His New Song
Keith Urban has just announced that his new radio single is the song that kicks off his High album, “Straight Line.” There’s a line in the song that was inspired by the Eagles’ classic “Hotel California.”
He told us recently, “I love textures in songs. Even in the second verse of ‘Straight Line,’ there’s a line in there that I really love—‘finally leaving Hotel California’ – and the reason that I love that line so much is just because I thought, ‘What’s the ultimate statement of finally getting out and breaking out?’ And in that lyric in ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles, it says, ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’”
Urban continued, “Obviously, the ultimate release would be finally leaving ‘Hotel California,’ and when that moment happened when we were making the record and we had a little breakdown, I was like, ‘It’s still missing something,’ and so I went out and did like ‘Whoo!’ ‘Hey!’ And I’m like, party of one in the background with chinking glasses and stuff like that. It’s just this little celebratory texture that you hear just in the background. So, those things take so long when I’m making records, because the ideas come when they come.”
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Keith rang in 2025 with a reportedly record crowd of approximately 220,000 people during the CBS live televised special, New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash. He performed several songs, including his new single, “Straight Line,” “Messed Up As Me,” “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” “Laughing All The Way To The Drank,” and more.
it will have been three years since Urban last toured when his “High And Alive World Tour” fires up on May 22 in Alabama. The tour will feature openers Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen, and Karley Scott Collins.
Keith told us, “Playing live is what I live to do. Looking out from a stage and seeing people singing, forgetting about all the stress in their lives, cutting loose, and feeling alive – that’s what it’s about for me.”
He added, “Lots of hits, new songs, things we won’t even think about until we’re onstage – and loads of guitar. We’re gonna make this tour the best night of your life!”
Urban has twenty-four number-one songs to choose from when he hits the stage as well as new songs from his 11th studio album, High.
