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."

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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.

WATCH: Gwen Stefani's 'This Is What the Truth Feels Like' - 8 Lovey Songs We Totally Think Are About Blake Shelton

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

EXCLUSIVE: Blake Shelton Reveals New Details About 'Very Personal' Duet With Gwen Stefani

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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.

EXCLUSIVE: Blake Shelton Gushes Over 'Special' Duet with Gwen Stefani and Her Classic 'No Doubt' Songs

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