Nicole Kidman Encouraged Keith Urban to Write ‘For You’

Keith Urban, now recovered from vocal surgery, recently had an unexpected hurdle to overcome – songwriting.

Keith was approached to write a song for the soon-to-be-released film “Act of Valor,” and while he was excited about the project, he found it difficult to start. “I’d never written for a particular thing before and I was really nervous about doing that,” he reveals to The Boot. “I really wanted to do it but I couldn’t think of an angle for the song.”

His wife, Nicole Kidman, deserves some of the credit – when he was having doubts, she encouraged him to write. “She said to me, ‘You should do this, you really should. I think you’ll be able to do this if you commit to it.’ She gently suggested that I do it and I’m glad she did.”

So Keith teamed up with one of his longtime friends, Monty Powell, to pen “For You.” “We were under such a time crunch to get it done that for the first time in my life I actually booked the studio before I had the song,” Keith says. “I thought to myself, ‘Well if ever there was any pressure to get a song written it’s now because the studio is booked and we have to have a song by next Wednesday.’”

The duo finished “For You” in time, erasing any of Keith’s worries over his writing. But even though he’s married to an actress and has now written for a soundtrack, he still won’t act. Why? “Probably because I suck as an actor!” he jokes.

“Act of Valor” is based on a true story about a group of Navy SEALs on a covert rescue mission, and it hits theaters February 24. The soundtrack, featuring “For You” as well as songs from Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry, and Lady Antebellum (among others), will be released February 21.

-Kathryn Paulson, CMIL Intern