Keith Urban, the New Katy Perry

It looks like Keith Urban, in close competition with Prince, will likely take next week’s top album spot on the charts (with Defying Gravity), so now’s as good a time as any to take a close listen to the disc’s second and current single, “Kiss a Girl,” a traditionally gendered but welcome corrective to Katy Perry’s entirely salacious and poorly observed “I Kissed a Girl.” This sounds rather like the first single, “I’m In,” which is to say, like effervescent pop with a nice emo tinge. The lyrics, meanwhile, seem a little innocent for a guy with a tour bus and the likely hint of a tour bus in his blue jeans (plus, they’re hardly as nicely written as lots of standard country fare), but whatever else he’s nailing, he also nails that reluctant first step back into romantic relations after a broken heart.