Update: Keith Urban’s Harvey Weinstein-inspired song, “Female,” is now available to listen to ahead of his performance at tonight’s CMA Awards. The song attempts to discuss many of the complexities that come with being a woman, and best addresses the subject of sexual assault in a line that criticizes people who victim blame women for “asking for it” through the way they dress. “Is that how it works?” Urban asks in the song. Give the song a spin below.
While tonight’s CMA Awards notably threatened journalists who asked questions about gun control with a possible ejection from the event, one thing that they didn’t mention was the recent wave of damning reports about sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry. But, even if they did, it’s hard to say that would dissuade Keith Urban from performing his newest song.
At the award show, Urban will debut a brand new song titled “Female” that takes a direct inspiration from the alleged Harvey Weinstein sexual assaults, The Hollywood Reporter notes. “We’re in a room and we’re like, ‘What can we do about this?’ And that’s the one thing we can do is write songs,” the song’s writer, BMI country songwriter of the year Ross Copperman, said about it.
Though we’ll have to wait to the award show to hear the song, Urban’s language surrounding it does raise some questions. While the situation certainly hits close to home (Urban is married to Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman), Urban cites being a husband and a father as part of the reasoning for the song. It’s been a high point of contention among many that men shouldn’t need to be fathers or husbands to speak out against violence or abuse against women.
“I am surrounded by females in my life,” Urban said. “I grew up in a house with boys, no sisters. Now I am in a house that’s all girls. So this song speaks to me on a lot of levels.”
We’ll have to tune in to see how the song lands. The CMA Awards air on ABC tonight at 8pm EST. Maybe Jason Isbell will win the big one.
