Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban Defend ‘Not Country’ Duet ‘The Fighter’

Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban are hitting back after fans slammed the duo for their new duet, “The Fighter.”

Underwood and Urban raised some eyebrows after their performance of the song during the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, as some viewers slammed Carrie and Keith for teaming up on the song, which a number of country music fans blasted for not being “country enough.”

A number of fans called out Carrie and Keith for not incorporating enough traditional country elements into the duet, which has already seen huge success at country radio. Some people claimed that Underwood and Urban, who are famous for their country music stylings, supposedly aren’t sounding “country enough” on “The Fighter.”

“Keith and Carrie’s newest song could not be further from country,” Twitter user @thisisdboth9 tweeted out of “The Fighter,” while @jerome_Cartier added of Underwood and Urban’s first official collaboration, “Carrie & Keith… that’s not Country Music… #GRAMMYs.”

“The secret to the success of this new Keith [and] Carrie’s song is that it’s clearly NOT country,” @AllisonCarries added on the social media site of Urban and Underwood’s catchy duet, while @eiLeanWithIT wrote in response, “As a country music fan- on behalf of the genre: we are not claiming whatever that was Keith & Carrie did.”

But despite some fans hitting back at the song’s lack of country elements, Carrie and Keith are making it pretty clear that they’re not too worried about the backlash, even claiming that the track was never intended to rely too heavily on the country sound both have become famous for over their lengthy careers.

Underwood opened up about recording the song with Urban prior to their Grammys performance, calling it “catchy” and revealing what drew her to the duet, despite fan’s claims that it doesn’t exhibit the country stylings we’re used to hearing from Carrie.

“I love that Keith Urban always pushes boundaries of music,” Carrie said of Urban during a pre-Grammys interview backstage at the Staples Center when asked about their collaboration.

“Yes, he’s an incredible country music artist, but he’s an incredible artist,” Underwood said.

“I love it when people kind of throw the rules out the window and just do what feels and sounds good musically,” Carrie Underwood continued amid the country backlash surrounding her and Keith Urban’s new duet, adding “The Fighter” “just felt like one of those songs” that doesn’t need to be put in a box when it comes to its genre.

“I don’t feel like it necessarily fits into a genre of music, it’s just kind of all-encompassing,” Carrie then added of her collaboration with Keith, admitting that she’s “just really glad to be a part of it.”

Urban previously spoke out about pushing the boundaries of country music in an interview with the Boot last year, admitting that his most recent album Ripcord, which features “The Fighter,” was never intended to focus solely on country music, despite fans hitting back at himself and Carrie.

“I just have to make music and just create,” Urban said at the time prior to the backlash from some country music fans over his and Underwood’s more electronic sounding duet, “The Fighter.”

The musician then went on to add that his aim was to make “very fluid” music that was “reactionary to how [he’s] feeling and what I’m motivated by at any given time.”

“I was much more willing to just try any idea that came to my head, as crazy as it might be,” Urban said of the album that spawned his and Underwood’s new duet.

Urban also confirmed that sounding overtly country wasn’t necessarily at the top of his priority list when it came to “The Fighter” and Ripcord.

Keith confirmed to 99.5 WYCD radio that he wasn’t too worried about sounding country with Carrie on “The Fighter,” revealing earlier this month that his duet with Underwood was actually more inspired by pop duets than country collaborations.

“I woke up and I heard that song [‘Marvin Gaye’] by Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor,” Keith said of the inspiration his new song with Underwood. “I suddenly thought, ‘Man, I love a great duet and I would love to write a really good duet song, but I’d like something a little different.'”

Keith also revealed his new song with Carrie was inspired by Puth’s “Marvin Gaye” in an interview with Taste of Country, where Urban described his and Underwood’s duet as “a disco-influenced, jazzy country love song.”

What do you think of Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban hitting back amid claims their duet “The Fighter” isn’t country enough?

[Featured Image by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]