Keith Urban seems to have subtly addressed his recent split from Nicole Kidman in a recent performance, hinting at potential strains in their relationship.
Just weeks after announcing the end of their nearly two-decade-long marriage, Urban is taking the spotlight in a new CBS series, “The Road.” The show features 12 aspiring country musicians competing for a chance to open for the Grammy-winning artist.
During the premiere episode, which debuted in the U.S. on Sunday, Urban performed his song “Straight Line,” igniting speculation with its poignant lyrics.
In the song, Urban sings, “Why we livin’ every day in circles? Just burnin’ out, burnin’ out,” adding an emotional layer with the line, “I don’t wanna just go through the motions. Goin’ round and round. It’s takin’ us down.”
These lyrics may reflect Urban’s personal life, as he has previously described “Straight Line” as a song about escaping monotonous and draining routines.
The choice of song may well have been a subtle nod to Keith’s current marital woes, as he has previously revealed that the track is about ‘breaking free’ from ‘soul-sucking’ routines.
Keith Urban has thrown some subtle shade at Nicole Kidman amid their shock split
Taking to Instagram in February last year, Keith shared a post promoting the track to his 2.8 million followers.
‘Straight Line is wanting to break out of a soul-sucking routine that you might be stuck in,’ he said.
‘Maybe in a relationship, a job, with creativity, with yourself…whatever it is!! It’s a message of feeling alive again and getting out from under that dark cloud.’
Elsewhere in the episode, Keith also revealed the eye-opening level of dedication required to spend extended periods away from loved ones.
‘Where do we start?’ he said, laying bare his thoughts on tour life.
‘It’s a calling, and you’re going to do it or you’re not going to make it.
‘When you wake up on a tour bus at 3.30 in the morning and you’re sick as a dog, you’re in the middle of nowhere and you’ve got to play your fifth show later that night, and you haven’t slept, and you miss your friends, and you’re missing your family, and you’re completely lonely and miserable and sick – and you say to yourself, “Why am I doing this?”
‘The only answer can be: Because this is what I’m born to do.’
The A-List couple confirmed, last month, that they had called it quits after 19 years of marriage
Keith is starring in the new CBS series, The Road, which sees 12 country music hopefuls vying to be the Grammy winner’s opening act. The series premiere, which aired in the US on Sunday, saw Keith take to the stage to perform his track Straight Line
Turning his attention to the competition series, he said, ‘We’re going to find out who’s made for that stuff.’
Keith’s comments come just weeks after Kidman filed for divorce on September 30 after 19 years of marriage.
The former couple had been kept apart recently amid their hectic filming and touring schedules.
They share daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.
The pair wed back in 2006 – five years after her split from actor Tom Cruise. Kidman and Urban had a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in her hometown of Sydney, Australia.
One day after the news of their separation broke, Kidman officially filed for divorce and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
According to the filing, the Moulin Rouge actress requested to be designated as the primary residential parent.
Sources also told the Daily Mail that Urban has reportedly moved on with an unnamed female musician.
‘Straight Line is wanting to break out of a soul-sucking routine that you might be stuck in,’ he said. ‘Maybe in a relationship, a job, with creativity, with yourself…whatever it is!! It’s a message of feeling alive again and getting out from under that dark cloud’
Speculation had arisen that he could be linked to 25-year-old country star Maggie Baugh as well as singer Kelsea Ballerini, 32.
Nicole was reportedly left ‘blindsided’ by the separation.
A source stated, ‘Keith never sees Nicole, either she is filming or he is on tour.
‘There was a lot of love between the two and they might not divorce, but there is a world that they both live where neither of them are in it.
‘Keith and Nicole have been together for decades and there is a world which they can reconcile, but the way their pairing is now, it is not a couple.’
