Blake Shelton just released the video for his latest single, “God’s Country.” The video was directed by Sophie Muller, who has done a lot of the videos for Shelton’s girlfriend, Gwen Stefani. But even though Shelton himself is a veteran at making videos, he admits he was nervous asking Muller, who is based in London, to take on the job.
“When it came time to making the video for ‘God’s Country,’ I was a little bit nervous,” Shelton revealed in footage of the making of the video. “I wanted to ask Sophie Muller to come to Oklahoma and make a music video for me. If you know anything about Sophie, you should Google her. She’s one of the more successful and in-demand music video directors.”
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Shelton can be seen filming various parts of the fiery video, unexpectedly starting on their first day by lighting a tractor on fire.
“We’re about to start my video, I think,” Shelton said. “We didn’t know we were going to, but we do have Sophie here. She’s a gunslinger of a video maker. She even cusses.”
Later, Shelton admitted he was amazed at how quickly Muller latched onto some ideas for “God’s Country.”
“Surprisingly, because the song is so, so country, I didn’t know if she would get it or not,” Shelton conceded. “She fell in love with the song. She immediately started sending me images of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, which is what she thought of when she thought of Oklahoma. Hard times.”
Shelton and the video crew spent much of the making of the video lighting things on fire, including some brush on Shelton’s expansive ranch that needed to be burned anyway.
“It’s always the things you never thought of that end up being the big things,” Shelton reflected, as the ground all around him burned. “This will probably end up being a major part of the video. And if it’s not, I got some work done anyway.”
It was Muller who had the idea for the “God’s Country” video, taking the song in a different, but welcome, direction than what Shelton anticipated.
“Sophie heard this song and kind of gave me a different perspective on the song than I originally thought of, which was the wrath of God,” Shelton said. “She started thinking of the Dust Bowl, and these man-made disasters that happened here in Oklahoma. That’s God also, and this is his country, and he can take it back anytime he wants to.”
“I loved that perspective that she had on the video,” he continued. “She came out here to the ranch, filmed the music video, which included burning a lot of things, creating a storm with a helicopter, walking through creeks, cutting wood, all kinds of stuff. Waterfalls. The good and the bad. Rattlesnakes. The good, beautiful things of God’s country, and also the wrath of God, and they all come together.”
“God’s Country” was written by Devin Dawson, HARDY and Jordan Schmidt. The song, from Shelton’s upcoming new album, is available for download on iTunes.
Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin
