Country Countdown USA (June 25th 2017)
Blake “Upset” About Voice Loss
It’s been over a month, and Blake Shelton is still disappointed that his team didn’t win this season of The Voice. He told Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton, “I’m still upset about this season. I swear, right up til they announced the winner, I thought it was in the bag for Lauren. I just shows you, you can’t tell who’s going to win. But looking back, things are meant to be. She needs some time, now that she had that exposure, to go and write and make the best record she can, because I think there’s a career out there for her. She now has time to make the right record. For me, I get emotionally attached to these kids, and you want to see them do well. It DOES become personal. There’s part of us as coaches to want to see the best come from them. It doesn’t hurt to see her come in second, because the opportunity will be here when she’s ready.”
Lon told Blake, at one point you said she was the best singer you’ve had on your team, and it was interesting to see you to go out on that limb: “I meant it about Lauren. She will be the first to tell you she’s not the most rangy vocalist we’ve had on The Voice, and if that’s how we judge who’s who, it’s a different conversation. Lauren doesn’t sound like anybody else, and she has a vision for what she wants to do, and because of that, I’m confident that she’s the strongest that’s ready to step into that spotlight.”
Lon asked Blake if he wishes the coaches picked the winners instead of the viewers: “When I don’t win I do. Any other time I love the way it works. When you come in second, you can think of a lot of things you’d do differently. But you can’t deny what the majority says. It is how it is. I’ve benefited from that as a coach, and I’ve also seen someone else win. You can’t argue with votes.”
Blake has already begun work on Season 13, and Lon asked him if he’s picked his mentor yet: “I don’t know yet. I asked for Barbara Streisand, but I don’t think it’s gonna work. I found out you never know til you try. I had a stupid idea to ask for Cher, and she did it. Even she was surprised. A couple seasons ago, I asked for Bette Midler, and she did it. So I asked the producers to call Barbara Streisand, and of course that’s not gonna happen, but I’d thought I’d swing for the fence, and I’ll have to settle for one of the other superstars we’re lucky enough to get.”
In Season 11, Blake had Garth Brooks as his mentor, and he told Lon he was impressed with Garth’s job on the show: “We were all nervous with Garth coming in. Everybody was looking to me for how he’d be, going, ‘What’s he gonna be like, y’all drink beer?’ I said, What are you talking about? That’s one of my heroes. But I told people, once he gets here, you’re gonna feel like you know him your whole life. That’s what I know about Garth. He has that way of connecting with people. It’s magical. That’s something I’ll never forget, getting to work with that guy.”
Luke, Blake, LBT Beach Jam
Earlier this year, Blake Shelton was a special guest at Luke Bryan’s annual Crash My Playa event in Mexico. Blake told Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it at first, but once he got there, he loved it.
“About a week before, I started thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ Once I got there I was happy. But the week before, ‘I hate Luke. Why does he do this to me?’ Once we got down there, Little Big Town was in the house next to us. Literally the whole band was in one house together. We had the house next to them. Looking back, it was great. We spent half the first day and the entire next day hanging out with them. That’s all we did was sit out on the beach, we listened to music, had a guitar, and we drank, and we found we got forced into having a good time. We’re stuck here, our phones aren’t working, let’s drink all day, you want to? What’s their song? Day Drinking, it literally happened. I wouldn’t trade that time, I hope I get to do it again.”
Little Big Town co-hosted the countdown in February, and recalled joining Blake on stage for the event’s final concert. Blake described it this way: “I forgot about that, the night of my show, I saw Luke was standing there, and Little Big Town was there too, and I said, ‘How often does this happen? Let’s go play country music.’ So we turned my encore that night into a live karaoke, and it was so much fun. We’ve got to do it again.”
Before the event, Luke Bryan co-hosted the countdown, and he told Lon he had one goal for Blake: “My goal getting Blake there is to get him in shorts and a tank top. Let’s just say Speedos are in his future. Gwen may leave him after that, if she sees him in some Speedos.” Blake responded this way: “I don’t know if I could get myself in some Speedos. It would look like gobs of white, doughy flab hanging out. I hate Luke. When he called, and wanted me to do it, my answer to him was ‘Of course, buddy.’ He’s that guy to me.”
Blake Shelton: I Will Never Retire
Contrary to what you may have read a few weeks ago, Blake Shelton isn’t retiring from the music business. He may be doing fewer concerts, and he may be making fewer public appearances, but he isn’t looking to quit. He spoke with Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton:
“I’ve been so unbelievably fortunate and lucky and blessed. I want to keep doing this literally until I’m dead. But I think the key to it for me and my sanity and my survival is to do it on my terms. You’ll never hear my say ‘I’m retiring’ and come back two years later with another farewell tour. I don’t know why I’d do that. I love what I do, and I don’t plan on burning myself out. That’s why I want to limit it, make it special for me, and make it special for fans. Just not burn it up. I want to make this last as long as I can.”
With that in mind, Blake says he’s also recording all the time. “The way I record is not how other artists make their records. I like to, whenever I have a handful of songs is go in and sing ’em, and get ’em done. It may make no sense timing wise, but I try to keep recording in my year, no matter what’s going on. It helps me, because I don’t just want to throw a bunch of stuff together. I like to live with songs for a while. My priority, when it comes to making record, is to make the best possible record I can make. That’s what my passion is. What I wanted to be when I was a kid was a country singer. I never had a dream of being anything else other than that. I love to sing. I want to have fun with this. So when I make a record, I want it to be a good album. I don’t care what it takes to get there, that’s what I want.”
Another Blake & Gwen Duet?
Blake’s current album, If I’m Honest, features a duet with his girlfriend Gwen Stefani. In fact the two often sing it together in his show. So Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton asked Blake if there’s another duet with Gwen in the works:
“I’m not gonna say no to that. I hope so. But to be honest, there isn’t anything, there’s no secret track around. But there’s a lot of time between now and the next project, whenever it may come. You never know. The last one was a song we just wrote, and it just happened. There wasn’t a plan to sit around and go since we’re in a relationship, we should write a song about it. In fact at the time, there wasn’t a plan to record a song together. That sounded ridiculous. But once it was written, it was the opposite of ridiculous, it was of course we’ve got to do this. So if it does happen, it’ll be something like that.”
Are you finding certain songs are catching your ear? Any trend you’re spotting? “I’m a happy guy. I think that’s gonna be reflected on this album. It comes down to the mood I’m in. If I’m sad and depressed, it’ll be that kind of album. If times are fun, and there hasn’t been anything traumatic in my life, it’ll be a fun album. That’s where I am as we do this interview. I’m in a good place and this album will reflect that, whenever it comes, whether we stay with this album, or come with something new, the music we’re making right now is fun.”