Keith Urban began working on his new album, Graffiti U, in January of last year and thought he may have it done within a short period of time. However, as he continued to write and record, the project didn’t come together until months later.

“The album felt like it started coming together maybe eight months later. It was crazy how long it took of writing and recording songs and feeling like, ‘Oh yeah. I’m gonna have an album in the middle of the year. This is great.’ And then the more I wrote, the more it started moving in a different direction and the more I found myself feeling freer in the process,” recalls Keith. “I don’t know how to articulate that, because it’s not to say I haven’t felt that way on other records, but somehow this one just became more liberated.”

His home studio may have had a little bit to do with the feel of the album. “I do think recording a lot at home in my studio that has big windows with lots and lots of natural light started to influence the spirit of the record,” he says. “There’s a lot of spirit in the album.”

Keith will kick off his Graffiti U Tour June 15th in St. Louis, Missouri. If you can’t wait that long, watch him perform Thursday night (May 3rd) on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers.