Blake Shelton's 'If I'm Honest': A Deep Dive Into the Album's Telling Lyrics
Blake Shelton is ready to get "honest."
The 39-year-old country star's latest album, If I'm Honest, will be released on Friday, but ET got an early listen to the full-length on Tuesday. Shelton previously promised to spill on his "life experience, whether it's a divorce or my new girlfriend," on the album -- but does he deliver on the details?
"I've never been as proud of an album as a body of work as I am of this one," he said in a press release issued on Tuesday, calling If I'm Honest "so important to me and basically autobiographical."
WATCH: Blake Shelton Admits Writing Country Duet With Gwen Stefani Was a Way to 'Impress' Her
Shelton co-wrote just three of the album's 15 tracks -- including a duet with girlfriendGwen Stefani and a heart-tugging gospel offering written at "a very dark time in my life last year," he said -- but the overall message of If I'm Honest is clear.
The singer sticks with his classic country roots on fun tracks like "Straight Outta Cold Beer," "Doing It to Country Songs," and "Green," while mourning a love lost on the top half of the record and reveling in a new relationship through the rest. Read on for a deep dive into each track and what we think Shelton may have had in mind while he was singing it.
And because we know you're wondering: Yes, he did thank Stefani (simply, only stating her name) in his liner notes. He also thanked her brother, Todd Stefani, who worked as part of Shelton's crew filming behind-the-scenes footage of his tour. No, he didn’t thank ex-wife Miranda Lambert.
The Breakup Songs:
Track 2. "She Got a Way With Words"
Songwriters: Wyatt Earp, Andy Albert, Marc Beeson
Sample lyrics:
She put the her in hurt
She put the why in try
She put the S.O.B. in sober
She put the hang in hangover
She put the ex in sex
She put the low in blow
She put a big F.U. in my future
Yeah she’s got a way
She’s got a way with words
Yes she’s got a way with words
Track 3. "Bet You Still Think About Me"
Songwriters: Park Chisolm, Mark Irwin
Sample lyrics:
There’s just something about you baby
There’s nothing that I can do
I think about you, you were always wild and free
I know we couldn’t hold on forever, but baby
I bet you still think about me
Track 4. "Every Time I Hear That Song"
Songwriters: Aimee Mayo, Chris Lindsey, Brad Warren, Brett Warren
Sample lyrics:
There’s something in the bittersweet
The feeling of a memory
Right there in the moment
All I ever wanted was you and me
We were crying, we were wasted
We were dying when they played it
Every time I hear that song
I’m standing in the pouring rain
On your front lawn and ooh ooh ooh
I still think about you ooh ooh
Every time I hear that song
The Hookup Songs:
Track 5. "Came Here to Forget"
Songwriters: Craig Wiseman, Deric Ruttan
Sample lyrics:
Girl you’re getting over him
And I’m getting over her
The eyes have it baby
Ain’t gotta say a word
Misery loves company
That’s why it’s you and me
Buying each other drinks
Back of the bar, as thick as thieves
Stealing these little sips
Doing our best to make the best of the worst of it
Track 6. "Every Goodbye"
Songwriters: Ryan Hurd, busbee, Liz Rose
Sample lyrics:
Every goodbye
Can be the start of something new
Maybe that starts with me and you
We got all night
To get to know each other better
To try moving on together, together
I could kill the pain that you’ve been in
You can be my heartbreak medicine
Proof that even dark clouds have a silver lining
Track 7. "It Ain't Easy"
Songwriters: Matt Dragstrem, Ben Hayslip, Rhett Akins
Note: Could this be a callback to Stefani's infectious "Misery"? Perhaps!
Sample Lyrics:
Yeah I used to be alright just saying goodnight
Maybe see you tomorrow
Yeah I could go a couple of days
Just doing my thing
Whatever I wanted
But now, your kisses hit me like lightning
Can’t fight it, girl you put it on me
Yeah you stone me, when you ain’t with me
I ain’t nothing but lonely
Track 8. "A Guy With a Girl"
Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Bryan Simpson
Sample Lyrics:
I’m just the guy with the girl everybody wants to know
Wishin’ you were there alone
Wonderin’ how I ever got your little hand in mine
Lookin’ over at ya’ like ain’t she beautiful
I’m invisible but I stand right there and smile
You’re right beside me, oh and I see the same thing they’re seein’
And I don’t mind being the guy with the girl
Track 9. "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" (featuring Gwen Stefani)
Songwriters: Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton
Sample lyrics:
There you are again on my phone
The moon is rising and you’re all alone
Maybe we could just hang awhile
Maybe we can make each other smile
Track 11. "One Night Girl"
Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Dallas Davidson
Sample lyrics:
Sunrise
Slipping through the trees and it looks so pretty in your eyes
I guess I got carried away, kept you out here all night
I hope you don’t mind
By the smile I see on your face, I think you’re havin’ a good time
A good time
Track 14. "You Can't Make This Up"
Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Zach Crowell, Rodney Clawson
Sample lyrics:
You can’t make up a night like this
You can’t make up a story like that
It’s one of those
How in the world did it happen
Kind of things
I’d never believe it
If I didn’t see it girl
The Good Old Fashioned Country Jams:
Track 1. "Straight Out of Cold Beer"
Songwriters: Marv Green, Ben Hayslip, Justin Wilson
Sample lyrics:
All night long bonfire on the back forty
In the middle of nowhere
Ain’t nobody leavin’ here
’Til we straight outta cold beer
Straight outta cold beer
Track 10. "Friends" (from The Angry Birds Movie)
Songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Blake Shelton
Sample lyrics:
Just some roughed-up desperadoes
Hangin’ tough through thick and thin
Kicking up dust wherever we go
I can see that you and me are gonna be friends
Track 12. "Doing It to Country Songs" (featuring The Oak Ridge Boys)
Songwriters: Jacob Lyda, Paul Overstreet, Marty Dodson
Sample lyrics:
My alarm clock is a radio
95.5 gets me ready to go
I’m heading to my job, drinking coffee strong
And I’m doing it to country songs
Around oh 5:30 my buddies and I
Hit the watering hole ’cause our whistles are dry
Drinking beer, shooting pool, man you can’t go wrong
Doing it to country songs
I like doing it to country songs
I like doing it to country songs
Doing it to country songs
Doing it to country songs
Well I call up my baby, she says come pick me up
I take her out dancing in my pickup truck
We rub them belt buckles ’til they shine like chrome
Doing it to country songs
Track 13. "Green"
Songwriters: Craig Wiseman, George Teren
Sample lyrics:
I got a hundred acre farm
I got a John Deere in my barn
I got a garden in my yard full of corn and peas and beans
I got a guitar I play unplugged
I got a homegrown girl I love
And when the summertime hits, we skinny-dip in the stream, yeah
I was green before green was a thing
And a Deeply Heartfelt Ballad:
Track 15. "Savior's Shadow"
Songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall, Blake Shelton
Sample lyrics:
Though the devil tried to break me, my sweet Jesus won’t forsake me
When I’m in my savior’s shadow, where I’m supposed to be
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Originally published Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 2:31pm PT.