Keith Urban will be sorry to see the end of American Idol when it bows out this year after its 15th and final season.
The Australian country-music star has been a judge on the US reality-TV singing competition since season 12 in 2013.
However, slipping ratings have sealed its fate, and with the last season now underway – UAE fans can watch it on Thursdays and Fridays on OSN – the sadness has already started to seep in for Urban. “I am going to miss it,” he says. “There is nothing that has quite that feel on television, where you can sit down and watch it with your whole family.”
However, he remains optimistic about the year ahead. “I feel really good about this year,” he says. “And I hear that sentiment from a lot of other people. There’s a lot of optimism from a lot of people who just want this to be a good year.”
One of the things he has to look forward to is the release of his ninth album, RipCORD. An exact date has yet to be announced – but the world tour to support the record will begin on June 2 (although all the dates announced so far are in the United States and Canada).
“I am anxious to get it done,” he says. “I hate the build-up of anything. If I could, I wouldn’t talk about any of it. I would just put it out.”
Urban has been teasing fans with snippets of information about the album for months. He's already put out two singles from the record, the Grammy-nominated John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16, and his second single, Break on Me.
“I’d much rather have the record out six months before I tour,” he says. “I certainly don’t want to wait to tour because the record is not done already. I still think the record is going to be out before the tour. Probably.”
For RipCORD, he's been working with a new crop of producers and musicians, including guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers, who won three Grammys for his work with Daft Punk on their album, Random Access Memories.
"This last year was a lot of experimenting and working with a lot of different people, much like I did with [2013 album Fuse]," Urban says. "And so now it's just sort of distilling it down to the things that feel right and true."
• American Idol is broadcast at 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays on OSN First HD