ABC/Image Group LAKeith Urban will debut his new single, “Female,” at the CMA Awards tonight. In an interview with Billboard, Keith and the song’s writers reveal that it was partly inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Songwriters Ross Copperman, Nicolle Galyon and Shane McAnally met to write the song in early October, when news first broke alleging that the Hollywood heavyweight was a sexual predator. But as Copperman tells Billboard, the October 1 massacre at country festival Route 91 Harvest in Las Vegas also had an influence on their writing session.
“After Vegas, to be honest, I haven’t wanted to do anything other than write songs that make an impact,” Copperman says. “So that’s all I’ve been doing. We got to talking that day, and then Shane McAnally was like, ‘I’ve had this title in my phone a long time — I’ve never known how to do it — called ‘Female.’ Me and Nicolle were like, ‘Uh, yes, we’re doing that.’ We thought the best way to write it was to just list things in the chorus.”
Urban was immediately struck by the lyrics of the song and recorded “Female” three weeks after it was written.
“As a husband and a father of two young girls, it affects me in a lot of ways,” Urban shares. “And as a son — my mother is alive. It just speaks to all of the females in my life, particularly.”
“For a guy who grew up with no sisters in a house of boys, it’s incredible how now I’m surrounded by girls,” he adds. “But not only in my house; I employ a huge amount of women in my team. The song just hit me for so many reasons.”
Watch Keith perform “Female” tonight at the CMA Awards, airing on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
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