Here’s Why Keith Urban Is Not Returning To ‘The Voice’

Keith Urban shared that while he has enjoyed being in the coaching seat for The Voice Australia alongside fellow judges Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and Rita Ora, he’s going to sit the next season out. 

The superstar has decided to take a step back to focus on everything else on his plate right now, but reclaiming his coaching chair in the future is not out of the question. 

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“I actually don’t think of it as the end of a chapter at all because I love doing the show,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “I feel very close to everybody on the set and hopefully the door can stay open because I would jump back in a heartbeat.”

Urban is currently in the midst of traveling for The Speed of Now tour and working on his next album, set to drop next year. The Australian leg of his tour will kick off just before the holidays, on December 1 in Gold Coast, AU. This means that Urban will get the chance to enjoy time at home with his wife Nicole Kidman and their family for Christmas. 

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Urban told Insider, “I am really looking forward to it and it is summer, a beautiful time to be there. My mum just turned 80 and Nic’s mum, who knows how many Christmases we get with anybody ever but particularly with our mums, I really cherish that chance to spend Chrissy with them and our family in Aus.”

His trek will then include a few more dates before he wraps up his time down under on December 17 in Melbourne, AU. 

With the release of his singles “Wild Hearts” and “Brown Eyes Baby,” Urban has already given fans a taste of what’s to come on his upcoming project. Between everything that’s left to complete this collection and continuing his long-stint of shows, there just aren’t enough hours in a day for Urban. 

“Unfortunately, the timing of it means that I won’t be able to come back for this next season of The Voice,” he shared. “I will be finishing this album, put it out and then we will be resuming our Vegas residency, which we hadn’t been able to do through the pandemic.”

In April, the “One Too Many” singer finally got the chance to hit the road for his The Speed Of Now World Tour, after having to reschedule it multiple times. The same goes for his Vegas residency, which was originally set for 2020.

The Australian singer found that his latest singles and other recordings were coming to a “thematic creative context” and leading down the same path towards a full project. He revealed to Country Now that all the talent in Music City has allowed him to find the best-suited tracks to complete the collection, which is set to be released in early or mid-2023.

“Nashville is an incredibly creative community and I’ve had the opportunity to travel everywhere and write with all kinds of people and work with different people, really all over the world. I’ve been so heartened to remember how much insane talent is here in Nashville, writers, engineers, players, producers, etc. So there was a concerted effort on my part to look and find these songs that all came together with all of that criteria. That’s somewhat of the common thread that’s coming in this next album.”

The Australian leg of Urban’s world tour is quickly approaching, but there are still a few US shows left to play before December. Keith Urban is scheduled to take the stage next on October 13 in Savannah, GA with support from Ingrid Andress, who served as a special guest for the first leg of the tour, and Tyler Hubbard who joined them in the fall.