This album has been called Urban's most experimental album to date. Urban told Rolling Stone, "It was a lot of searching, a lot of experimenting, and when you get to work with as many people as I did, you end up with a lot of stuff."
One of the tracks, "Sun Don't Let Me Down" features Pitbull, and Nile Rodgers on guitar. The first verse in that song makes reference to Urban's wife Nicole Kidman's 1995 film To Die For.[3]
Urban promoted the album by performing "Wasted Time" on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon on 6 May and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on 12 May 2016.[4][5] Three days after the album was released Urban played a free lunchtime concert in front of the Bridgestone ArenainNashville on 9 May 2016. He performed tracks from Ripcord such as "Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)" and "Blue Ain't Your Color".[6] Urban embarked on a world tour in support of the album on the RipCORD World Tour, beginning on 2 June 2016.
The second single "Break on Me" was released on October 23, 2015. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart and peaked at number six on Hot Country Songs, as well as number 54 on the Hot 100.
"Wasted Time" was released as the third single on April 4, 2016.[9] Like its predecessor, it also reached number one on Country Airplay chart. In addition, it peaked at number four on Hot Country Songs and at number 51 on the Hot 100.
"Blue Ain't Your Color" was released on July 30, 2016 as the album's fourth single by Urban via Snapchat. The song reached number one on both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. Also, it reached number 24 on Hot 100.
"The Fighter", a duet with fellow country musician Carrie Underwood, was released as the album's fifth single on February 6, 2017.[10][11] Urban wrote the song with his producer busbee while the two were in London. It was inspired by conversations that Urban had with his wife Nicole Kidman early in their relationship.[12] It peaked at number two on both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay chart. It also reached number 38 on the Hot 100 chart.
Ripcord has received generally positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic — which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72 based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ABC News' Allan Raible says that the album "is not really a country record" but rather "...more of an electric-pop influenced record," saying that it "[also] reeks of formula but at the same time, there's something enjoyably adventurous about this record."[14]AtThe Sydney Morning Herald, the album received three stars and reports that "Urban threads a tight needle, updating the slick contemporary American country sound he, long ago, mastered with the warm washes and bright punctuation of pop music," adding that "[i]t is, at first suggestion, an almost ludicrous concept, but it's testament to Urban's craftsmanship that the record is dexterous and pleasing."[17]
Sounds Like Nashville described the album as "a remarkably diverse album that pushes boundaries and furthers Urban’s evolution as an artist."[18]
For the collaborations on the album, The News-Sentinel's Michael McCall describes "The Fighter", the duet with Carrie Underwood, as "a modern update of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell", and views the collaboration with Pitbull and Nile Rodgers ("Sun Don't Let Me Down") as something "more like an exercise [rather] than a celebration".[19]
Ripcord debuted at number one in Urban's home country of Australia,[21] and at number 21 in New Zealand.[22] It stayed at number one on the Australian albums chart for a second week, becoming his first album to spend more than one week at the top of that chart.[23] The album was certified Platinum in Australia for shipments of over 70,000 units.
The CD debuted at number 3 on the Canadian Albums chart[24] and was certified Gold for shipments of over 40,000 units.[25]
In the US, it debuted at number one on the Billboard'sTop Country Albums chart, becoming Urban's fifth number one album on that chart. The disc also debuted at No. 4 on Billboard 200, earning over 106,000 album-equivalent units (93,000 pure sales) during its first week.[26] The album remained at number one on the Top Country Albums chart for a second week. On April 7, 2017, the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA.[27] As of June 2018, it has sold over 740,700 copies in the United States.[28]
^Ripcord (CD booklet). Keith Urban. Capitol Records Nashville/Hit Red Records. 2016. B0023591-02.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
