It’s been the season of Keith Urban on The Voice: Australia. After one contestant auditioned with an original song titled “Keith” that name-dropped all of the coach’s biggest hits, this week, another hopeful decided to cover one of Urban’s hits.
Freddie Bailey took the stage and sang “Wild Hearts.” It took the country artist a second to recognize it was his song, but once he did, he was absolutely delighted. Urban chuckled before listening intently, mouthing the words and even raising his arm to reveal his tattoo at the line, “phoenix on my arm.”
Although Urban did not turn his chair immediately, he did hit his buzzer when Bailey kicked off the chorus. Jess Mauboy also turned her chair, but Rita Ora and Guy Sebastian remained facing the audience.
“First of all, lousy song choice. I don’t know what you were thinking,” Urban joked before getting serious. “No, thank you so much for singing that song.”
Then, the “Somebody Like You Singer” asked Bailey if he could play with him. The two rocked out and shared a mic like they had done it several times before — Urban even gave The Voice hopeful a guitar solo!
After an experience like that, it’s no wonder he chose the country star as his coach.
“Wild Hearts” is Urban’s latest single. The song was co-written by Urban with Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, Eric Paslay and Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne and encourages everyone to follow their dreams, much like Urban did after he saw Johnny Cash perform when he was just a boy. That moment was the spark that lit the fuse.
Most recently, Urban performed this song at the 2022 CMT Music Awards.