Kaylee’s ode to her idol

SHE’S MET him, toured with him and even performed alongside him on stage.

But award-winning Kiwi country music singer Kaylee Bell never thought she’d end up writing a song about her idol, Keith Urban.

The song, Keith, taken from her new album due out this year, is being released tomorrow.

Recorded during a songwriting session in Nashville, Keith is a love song based around some the biggest songs released by Urban, who was born in Whangarei and is married to Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. Urban remains one of country music’s biggest stars.

But Bell, who was born in Waimate and is based in Auckland, says she put her song on the back seat for more than a year before she recorded it properly.

“The song was an idea that came to me in the middle of the night, that I recorded into my phone,” she told TimeOut.

“I kept it on my phone for over a year before I had the courage to [make it]. We used 12 of Keith’s song titles to tell the story of how music takes you back to moments in your life, and back to the first time of falling in love.

“Hopefully that’s something a lot of people can relate to.”

That’s not all Bell has coming up in what promises to be a very big year for her. As well as a new album, she’ll play her first show in London at the C2C Festival, Europe’s biggest country music festival. The headliner? Keith Urban.

Songwriting sessions in Nashville, touring with her hero and racking up millions of streams on Spotify — not bad for someone who comes from a country where her style of music isn’t celebrated quite as much as others.

“America has always been the home of country music and always will be,” says Bell. “To work with the top producers and writers, I get myself to the States as often as I can.”

She admits being based in New Zealand can be tough. “It’s a small country and country music isn’t highly recognised — but I would love to see that change.”

Bell’s doing all she can to support country music here, including a performance at the Introducing Nashville showcase at Auckland’s Tuning Fork on March 28.

But her biggest shows remain playing in front of 30,000 people for The Dixie Chicks, and those performances with Urban.

Did he give her any advice? Bell says he didn’t need to.

“You learn from being around him. He’s humble and just really normal and cool, and also on a whole other level of cool and talented when he is on stage,” she says.

“He’s a total inspiration of how you can be super-talented and famous and still be a good person.”

TimeOut couldn’t help but ask Bell if she’d considered a publicity stunt like Kelsey Karter, a Kiwi singer who made worldwide headlines by getting a fake Harry Styles tattoo on her right cheek to promote a song about the One Direction star.

Would Bell ever get a Keith Urban tattoo?

“If I was ever to get a tattoo that would probably be the best fit,” Bell laughs. “But no.”

Kaylee Bell’s new single, Keith is out tomorrow.