Keith Urban’s latest album, 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1, opens with a true banger. “Out the Cage,” written by Urban with Sam Sumser, Sean Small, and Breland, is a fast-paced dance number that evokes the best of Nineties electronica. It also excels because of its guest stars: Breland and Nile Rodgers. Both of those artists cameo in the track’s music video, released on Wednesday.
“I always loved ‘Firestarter’ by the Prodigy, that kind of Nineties English beat that Fatboy Slim used a lot. There’s something in that that I know I can assimilate into my world and have it feel organic,” Urban told Rolling Stone last year when asked about “Out the Cage.”
Urban says the song emerged after he played a banjo riff for Breland. “I like writing from a place of energy. I love having a rhythmic foundation to create upon…I picked up the banjo and this riff came out. Breland said, ‘Why don’t we sing something over that lick?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s pretty quick.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, but that’s the point of it!’ I live for that fast syncopated staccato sort of vocal styling. And we were off and running.”
Urban and Breland reunited for the video on an empty sound stage that doubled as a blank canvas for Breland’s inspired dancing. While Rodgers filmed his scenes remotely, it all combines to make for a music video that crackles with the energy of the song itself.
In February, Breland released the new song “Cross Country” and recently teased a new collaboration with Tyler Hubbard. Urban co-hosted Sunday’s ACM Awards with Mickey Guyton and also performed the Speed of Now track “Tumbleweed.”