Story Behind the Song: Keith Urban (Feat. Carrie Underwood), ‘The Fighter’
In early 2017, Keith Urban released "The Fighter" as the fifth single from his 2016 album Ripcord. The song, a duet with Carrie Underwood, was written by Urban and busbee, and was inspired by Urban's relationship with his now-wife, actress Nicole Kidman, when the two had just begun to date. Below, the country star shares the story behind the tune.
That song, it just came out incredibly quick -- probably the fastest song that I’ve written in a long, long time; the idea came very quickly.
I was working with busbee that day; we were in London. I was actually driving to the studio to work on this other song we started, and I had most of it the chorus in my head, and it felt like I had most of the song in my head -- the verses just had to flesh out. I walked into the studio and played the chord progression, and he built this track really quickly, and then I could sing over the top of it.
I think we put down the chorus pretty much straight away, with busbee filling in where the girl would sing. I still have a copy of him -- [mimics Underwood's part] -- and so, that’s what I had as a placeholder for a long time, until I beautifully heard Carrie’s voice on it finally one day.
It was just a very quick, quick song to write, because I literally thought about Nic and I and our relationship in the beginning, and some of the things we had said all went into that song.
Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood's "The Fighter" Overcame Obstacles