Glamour Magazine (April 2013)

Good Lawd, We ♥ Blake

And guess what: The Voice's bad boy did this interview shirtless.

No doubt about it: April belongs to Blake Shelton. Besides releasing his latest album, Based on a True Story…, and cohosting the Academy of Country Music Awards, he's back in the big red Voice chair. The only problem? He can't figure out which of his judge competitors to trash-talk this year. After all, Adam Levine hasn't gotten very far in the contest lately: “He's more like a cheerleader on the sidelines,” Shelton cracks. And pranking new kids Usher and Shakira presents its own issues. “Usher's no newbie,” he says. “He's already mentored Justin Bieber. And Shakira's a beautiful girl. I just want her to hug me a bunch.” But don't worry about any flirty Shakira chemistry. Shelton is so crazy about his wife, Miranda Lambert, he's staged elaborate tour-bus booty calls for the constantly traveling couple. “Once, I was passing through Ohio and she was coming from the Northeast,” he remembers, “so we met up near Lake Erie, cooked, and made out for hours on the bus.”

That healthy dose of humor and lust is the 36-year-old Oklahoma native's M.O. During this interview, which he did while getting ready for an event, his publicist interrupted to ask that he put on a shirt. But nobody censors Shelton. Not about his typical night at home (“me and my wife, 700 different animals sh-tting and pissing”), not about his hangover cure (“Carson Daly recommended Pedialyte”), and not about his Hoda Kotb crush (“She's a big deal”). And as for his reputation for speaking his mind? “If you're not offending one group of people,” he says, “you're not entertaining the other.”

Count us in for Team Entertained.

Three Women That Make Blake Great

Miranda Lambert, his wife: “She always builds my confidence.”

Shakira, cojudge on The Voice: “I just want to make her happy.”

Cassadee Pope, his protégée: “It's cool to share what I've learned.”