"Superman" is a song recorded by Australian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

artist

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 ...

. The track was written by Urban with

Craig Wiseman Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter and producer, and the owner/founder of the Big Loud enterprise. He has been writing since the late 1980s, and his songs have been recorded by Lorrie Morgan, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesn ...

, and producers Ben Berger, Ryan Rabin, and Ryan McMahon of

Captain Cuts Captain Cuts is a songwriting, record production and remix team based in Los Angeles. The duo is composed of Ben Berger and Ryan Rabin (also formerly drummer and producer of the band Grouplove), but they also included Ryan McMahon. Collectively t ...

. It was the fourth single released in Australia off Urban's eleventh studio album ''

The Speed of Now Part 1 ''The Speed of Now Part 1'' is the eleventh studio album by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban. The album was released on 18 September 2020 via Hit Red and Capitol Records Nashville. The album won the Highest Selling Al ...

'', and the second single off the album released in the United Kingdom.

Background

Urban held a writing retreat in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and he wanted to put together different writers that he knew who has never collaborated before. He elected to bring the three-man group

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and experienced

songwriter Craig Wiseman together and the group came up with "Superman" on their first day of writing. Urban said the song was written metaphorically, adding "I like when listeners can put their own story, their own faces and their own characters into the song, and this one to me, is definitely one of those songs".

Critical reception

Joseph Hudak of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' noted influence of 1980s music in "Superman", saying Urban "embraces synth and drum machine, using both to zero in on his new sweet spot", referring to him as "Nashville’s preeminent summer-song creator". Chris Parton of ''Sounds Like Nashville'' described the song as "an instantly enjoyable foot-tapper full of much-needed positivity". Eric Alper called the song "infectious," and " brimming with energy and swagger".

Commercial performance

"Superman" reached a peak of number 10 on the '' TMN'' Country Hot 50 in Australia. It also reached peaks of number 16 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Canadian Digital Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart and number six on the US Country Digital Songs chart.

Music video

The official music video for "Superman" was directed by Ben Dalgleish and premiered on 17 July 2020. The video was filmed in a

flip book A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images appear to animate by simulating moti ...

style, with the animation portion of the video being drawn by Andymation. It was mostly filmed at Urban's warehouse in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. He noted inspiration from the video for Norwegian

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

band

A-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...

's hit "

Take On Me "Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha. The original version, recorded in 1984 and released in October of that year, was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff (producer), John Ratcliff. The 1985 international ...

", which he called one of his "favourite videos of all time".

Track listings

Digital download – single # "Superman" – 2:50 # "

Polaroid Polaroid may refer to: * Polaroid Corporation Polaroid Corporation was an American company that made instant film and cameras, which survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit his P ...

" – 2:30 # "

God Whispered Your Name "God Whispered Your Name" is a song recorded by New Zealand-Australian country music singer Keith Urban. It was released on 2 March 2020 as the second single from Urban's eleventh studio album ''The Speed of Now Part 1''. Content American Christia ...

" – 3:52

Credits

Adapted from ''

'' liner notes. *Nathan Barlowe – keyboards *Ben Berger –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, keyboards, programming, background vocals * Nathan Chapman – bass guitar *Ryan McMahon – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals *Ryan Rabin – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals *Jerry Roe – drums *

– acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, keyboards,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, lead vocals, programming

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2020 songs 2020 singles Keith Urban songs Songs written by Keith Urban Songs written by Craig Wiseman Capitol Records Nashville singles