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“We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” the kinda-sorta Robyn homage from Ariana Grande’s new album eternal sunshine, was a #1 hit, so it follows that the song has a lot of fans. It’s also a good song, which probably helps. And why wouldn’t one of those fans be Keith Urban, the hunky Australian country star? But it’s still a little surprising to learn just how much Keith Urban loves that song.
Keith Urban recently spoke to People to promote his new Las Vegas residency, and the subject of Taylor Swift came up. This makes sense. Back in 2009, when Swift was still a young country star, Urban took her out on tour as an opener. Last year, Urban posted a TikTok of himself and wife Nicole Kidman having a grand old time at Swift’s Eras Tour, and they accidentally publicized opener Phoebe Bridgers’ relationship with Bo Burnham. (Those two were making out in the background.) Talking to People, Urban once again proclaimed his love of Swift’s music. But it sure seems like he intentionally turned the conversation toward Ariana Grande and “We Can’t Be Friends.”
Talking to People, Keith Urban said that “We Can’t Be Friends” has “some real celestial magic” and described it as his “current obsession song right now.” Urban went on: “I don’t know what is going on with that song, but I cannot stop playing it. It’s like audible heroin. Literally, I have to have another hit. I play that thing over and over and over.” Urban has two teenage daughters, but he told People that he didn’t hear about the song from them:
I’ve always liked Ariana anyway. She doesn’t sound like anyone. It’s like Taylor. I like singers that you know their voice immediately, and there’s a lot of other singers that sound like them, but they don’t sound like anyone… Ariana has always had that unique vocal gift. On top of that, she’s a phenomenal writer and producer. So it was easy for me to stumble upon that new album. I was interested in it before it came out.
On Monday night, Keith Urban played what appears to be a small club show, and he did a solo-acoustic version of “We Can’t Be Friends” — which, it must be said, sounds really good as a country song. Urban posted video of the performance himself, repeating his line about how it’s “audible heroin.” Watch the cover and the song’s actual video below.
Do you think Keith Urban has heard Body Talk? His brain might explode.