Keith Urban Credits Ed Sheeran With Inspiring Him to Record ‘Burden’

Keith Urban stunned and impressed millions of fans watching the recent ACM Awards, when he performed a song called “Burden,” which wasn’t on his latest Graffiti U album. Urban’s decision to sing and record “Burden” was, perhaps surprisingly, inspired by a conversation Urban had with fellow superstar, Ed Sheeran.

“We played at the 02 in London and Ed came out to see us play,” Urban said in a statement. “We talked about Foy [Vance], who’s an incredible musician and songwriter. The next day, I had a day off in London, so I got on my bike and put my headphones on and rode around London for like two hours listening to Foy non-stop.”

“And when I got back to Nashville, I realized that I had never seen him play live – he must be fantastic – so I jumped on YouTube and heard this song ‘Burden,’ and just fell in love with him,” he continued. “I thought, ‘I’d love to be able to do a version of the song – the way that I was feeling it in my heart.’”

Urban stepped out of his comfort zone during the ACM Awards performance by not playing guitar while he sang “Burden.”

“When I had recorded the song with Dave Cobb in the studio, I played guitar on the record,” Urban explained to PopCulture.com and other media backstage at the ACM Awards. “There’s an emotive singing in the song, too, and it’s not really something that you can do simultaneously so I just made the decision to let somebody else do the six string.”

Urban went backstage after winning the ACM Award for Entertainer of the Year, a trophy he did not expect to win.

“I’ve been nominated nine times, so at some point, I’d come to terms and accepted that the nomination is the award,” Urban admitted. “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 wrapped up his global Graffiti U World Tour earlier this year, and is now focusing on a new album.

“I’m already thinking about the recording studio right now and then eventually putting on another live show,” Urban revealed. “For me, it’s always about trying to find a new way to connect. I love country music. I really do. I love the massive spectrum of colors that it is. I hope that what we eventually get to hear and see are all of its colors represented, because it’s a huge genre.”

“Burden” is currently available for download.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Kevin Mazur