Only weeks after his 19-year marriage to Nicole Kidman ended, Keith Urban stepped back into the spotlight at the 59th Annual CMA Awards, one of America’s most-watched country music shows. The way he acted on stage and the song he chose are now being picked apart by people who do not even listen to country music.
For weeks, fans have watched his private life go public. The divorce filing. The headlines. The lyric swap that turned “baby” into “Maggie,” naming his 25-year-old touring guitarist instead of his wife.
Keith tried to shut it all down on stage, telling fans he has been changing lyrics for years and to stop “reading s*** into it.” Then he aimed another line in “You’ll Think of Me” at “all your bulls*** reasons,” which many people heard as a shot at the divorce itself.
Keith Urban Returns to Stage at CMA Awards After Nicole Kidman Split | E! News
That is why the performance itself, as it played out live in the CMA opening medley, matters so much to this story. For anyone who does not follow the CMAs or country music, this is the cleanest way to feel the energy of the moment, because you watch him appear in the middle of a celebration that has nothing to do with his private life.
The duet shows how carefully this return was planned. Lainey carries the medley through other artists’ hits, then Keith arrives as the final surprise, singing a song from 1999 that came long before his relationship with Nicole Kidman.
Lainey Wilson Sings a Medley of Iconic Country Songs | Live at CMA Awards 2025
In late September, during his “High and Alive” show in Chicago, Keith sang “The Fighter,” the song many fans saw as a promise to Nicole. In the middle of it, he swapped the word “baby” for the name of his 25-year-old guitarist, Maggie Baugh. She later shared the moment with a playful caption and shocked emojis, and that tiny change exploded across social media just days before the divorce filing.
From there, everything snowballed.