Keith Urban Surprised by Support of Fans With ‘Graffiti U’ and ‘Ripcord’

Keith Urban is the reigning Entertainer of the Year, showing just how well his music has been embraced over the last several years. The accolade was unexpected to Urban, who has always tried to make music he wanted to make, without regard to whether or not it had mass commercial appeal.

“I think that’s what it is. It’s the support that I get for going on the creative adventures that I go on. I feel pulled towards particular music when I’m creating,” Urban told PopCulture.com and other media, explaining his shocked expression upon accepting the Entertainer of the Year honor. “I don’t know where it goes most of the time, but I just sort of wander along, float, and see where it goes. Sometimes it wanders off to a place that I’ve never been before.

“I don’t expect that people will support it necessarily,” he continued, “so when it happens like that, when I get to make a record like Graffiti U or particularly Ripcord, those few records, and they get supported the way they have, it’s an incredible feeling for any artist.”

Just receiving the Entertainer of the Year nomination was validation enough for Urban, so to walk away with the night’s highest honor was unexpected to Urban.

“I’ve been nominated nine times, so at some point, I’d come to terms and accepted that the nomination is the award,” Urban told PopCulture.com and other media backstage at the ACM Awards. “I don’t know why things go that way sometimes. I love what I get to do; I put everything into it. But I know all the others do too, so thank you God. Really.”

Urban acknowledged that any project he works on is hard to wrap up, which is why he is always thinking about his next record.

“You never finish, you just give up,” Urban told PEOPLE, speaking of Graffiti U. “The hard part is realizing that I finished the album ages ago and that I’ve actually started the next one but nobody has told me. I have to delineate when the end of that one is, otherwise I will just go on and on!”

No word yet when Urban’s next album will be released. The Aussie has several fairs and festivals scheduled over the summer. Find a list of all of Urban’s upcoming shows by visiting his website.

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