Blake Shelton Gets Candid About New Music, His Next Album
Blake Shelton says if he had been planning his next studio album, he probably would have missed his next radio single "Hell Right," written by "Rednecker" singer and "God's Country" co-writer Hardy.
The country veteran and coach on The Voice spoke to select media prior to his No. 1 party for "God's Country" last week. He candidly shared his thoughts on Adam Levine leaving (and Gwen Stafani joining) The Voice for Season 17 this fall. He also repeated what he said before about not necessarily working on his 11th studio album — something that's exciting for him.
"Everything is icing on the cake for me at this point," Shelton says, "and all I want to do is make the records that I want to make with the people I want to make 'em with. Outside of that, I don't care how they (his record label Warner Music Nashville) package them or what they do with it."
"God's Country" reignited Shelton's excitement for what he does in country music, he says. The song (one of just two platinum country hits released in 2019) went from being just an idea Hardy had at home, hunting during a break, to a great co-write with Devin Dawson and Jordan Schmidt, to Shelton in the recording studio in a matter of days. It hit country radio weeks later and soared to No. 1 in less that three months. That ride sparked the 43-year-old's imagination and led to several furious recording sessions, including one where he cut another song written by Hardy.
"I'm glad we're not up here right now talking about this album coming out because if that was the situation I probably wouldn't have this new song that we're super pumped about that will probably be next, it seems like it," Shelton says, stopping short of revealing the song's title or direction (on Monday his label team confirmed the song is called "Hell Right"). In addition to writing for Shelton and for himself, Hardy has penned chart-topping songs for Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Wallen. He has five songs on the country airplay charts currently.
That would make two singles for Shelton, but still no plans for an album. It's un-Shelton-like and counter to how the music industry usually works. During his conversation with media, The Voice star conceded that conversations about that with his label have already begun and he knows eventually his songs will be packaged and released. He's more focused on the right now because it's fun, and because he admittedly doesn't understand how people consume music in 2019.
"I'm just having a blast with it," he says. "So, yeah, we have a ton of stuff recorded. Will all of it see the light of day? The way the music industry works these days, probably. I don't know when or how."
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