"Stupid Boy" is a song written by Dave Berg, Deanna Bryant, and

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

. Originally recorded by Buxton, the song was later recorded by Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

on his 2006 album '' Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing''. Urban's version was released as that album's second single in December 2006 and peaked at number 3 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. A year after its release, Urban won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Male Country Vocal Performance of the song.

History

Urban told ''Billboard'' that he recorded "Stupid Boy" at the suggestion of his wife, actress

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

. He also noted how the song's subject matter contrasted with the more up-tempo love song " Once in a Lifetime," the album's first single, saying that the two songs were "

yin and yang Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...

, who co-wrote the song, recorded a version before Urban did. This version was included on a 2007

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

entitled '' Almost My Record'' as well as Buxton's 2010

self-titled An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

album.

Critical reception

Tamara Conniff and Ray Waddell of ''

'' described the song as "a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

on how men foolishly break the hearts of the women they love."

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

reviewer Michael McCall called it "a funky, witty take on a guy who can't appreciate how good he has it." In 2008, the song won Urban a

for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

Personnel

As listed in liner notes. *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

– rhythm guitar *Eric Darken – percussion *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

– rhythm guitar *

Rami Jaffee Rami Jaffee (born March 11, 1969) is an American musician. He is the keyboardist for the rock band Foo Fighters, whom he initially joined in a touring and session capacity in 2005. He has contributed to seven of the band's studio albums, and for ...

–

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

*Tim Lauer –

pump organ The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician from Camden, NJ. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. McHugh toured and played as a session drummer with artists such as Aaron Neville, Pe ...

– drums *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass guitar *Keith Urban – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, all vocals

Chart performance

Urban's rendition of "Stupid Boy" peaked at number 3 on the US ''

chart.

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cassadee Pope version

Cassadee Pope Cassadee Blake Pope (born August 28, 1989) is an American pop and country singer. She was the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop punk band Hey Monday, with whom she released one studio album and two EPs. Pope embarked on a solo career in ...

performed this song on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's singing competition show, '' The Voice''. Pope went on to win the competition, and her studio version of the song reached the top of the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Top 10 Singles the day after the song was released.

References

{{Authority control 2006 singles Sarah Buxton songs Keith Urban songs Cassadee Pope songs Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by Dave Berg (songwriter) Songs written by Sarah Buxton Capitol Records Nashville singles Universal Republic Records singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky Songs written by Deanna Bryant 2006 songs Country ballads