EXCLUSIVE: Keith Urban Opens Up About How Nicole Kidman Influenced His New Album, 'Ripcord'

The wait for Keith Urban's new album is almost over, with Ripcord now officially scheduled for a May 6 release.

With only a few months left until the final version hits shelves, Urban tells ET that his wife, Nicole Kidman, is lending something of a helping hand in the song selection department.

"Nic, of course, hears everything over the course of about 15 months [that] I've been working on this record, so she's heard everything over, and over, and over again. God bless her," Urban joked, speaking with ETonline backstage at Thursday's taping of American Idol. "I'm interested in how I respond just when she's listening. Without her saying anything, I have a particular response that's not necessarily the same without her. So, it's important. I need the girl view!"

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So far, we've heard "Break on Me" and "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" off Urban's eighth studio album, but the 48-year-old superstar says he's still "tinkering" with the complete tracklist.

"That's actually becoming the hardest part of making the whole record, is deciding which songs go," he said. "I reach out to a lot of people I trust around me. At the end of the day, I have to make the decision, but I get a lot of people's opinions on songs because for me, every one of them is me. So when someone says, 'Well, just put the songs that are you,' I'm like, 'Well, that's, like, a 24-song record.' I really gotta shrink it down."

What we can expect, Urban says, is a "diverse" offering of emotions on the album.

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"I mean, all the love songs, I'm drawing from a particular place," he says, hinting at his wife of nearly 10 years. "There's songs about being in the moment, about life, about reminiscing, songs about love, songs about love lost. There's a song on the record, hopefully, called, 'That Could Still Be Us,' which I think a lot of people can relate to that song."

Earlier this year, Urban revealed the secret to making a marriage last in Hollywood: "Keep dating!" See what else he had to say about the couple's upcoming milestone and hitting the road this summer on his Ripcord World Tour in the player below.

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Keith Urban Reveals The Secret to 10 Years Of Marriage With Nicole Kidman

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