6 Degrees of Separation From Keith Urban's ‘Graffiti U’

With an email or two, Keith Urban can pretty much get anyone he wants on the phone. George Clooney, Kanye West, the Queen of England? Start with his collaborators on the new Graffiti U album and you can make those connections easily!

J.K. Rowling, Roseanne Barr and the Royal Baby? Now they might be a tad more difficult to tie country's "Coming Home" singer to, but we set out to prove that he's six degrees or less away from all of them.

Graffiti U is Urban's new studio album and it's an eclectic mix of pop, EDM, rock and country that relies on writers and producers from country music and beyond, sometimes far beyond. Did you know that the woman who helped write Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" also helped Urban with a song from this album? "Texas Time" is arguably the most country song on this project, and it was co-produced by Mike Elizondo, who co-wrote and co-produced "In Da Club" by 50 Cent. No one in country music reaches further outside the format to make new music — something Urban has done for several albums straight. Yet somehow, he mostly avoids criticism or accusations that he's not "real country" because the result is clean, rooted in storytelling and addictive.