Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Nobody But You’ Wasn’t Supposed to Be a Duet

Blake Shelton earned his 27th No. 1 on the country charts and Gwen Stefani scored her first with the recent duet “Nobody But You,” which the superstar couple released in December. The song was originally supposed to be a solo project for Shelton, but producer Scott Hendricks recently told The Boot that adding Stefani was a last-minute addition.

“I don’t remember if it was him saying to her, ‘You should sing on this,’ or her saying, ‘I want to sing on this,’” he said. “It wasn’t originally set to be a duet at all.” Stefani recorded her vocals on the song in Hollywood after Shelton had already recorded his, and Hendricks said that “she fit like a glove, and it was super easy.” “Nobody But You” was written by Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne and Tommy Lee James, and Hendricks said he first played it for Shelton in the car in 2019 along with “Hell Right,” which Shelton recorded with Trace Adkins.

“She did get a copy of the song to Blake, but I did as well, and that’s okay,” Hendricks said, referencing Stefani’s previous assertion that McAnally had emailed her the song to give to Shelton. Shelton said that he had told McAnally to send the song to Stefani and that he got it in an email from Hendricks as well.

“It was just a weird coincidence, the whole thing,” Stefani said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this year. “It was one of those songs that I was like, ‘Wow!’” she exclaimed. “These songs come to Blake, they’re so incredible, and I was dreaming that I could be on it. We were working out together in the gym and I was like, ‘Man, I wish you put me on this one!’ He actually turned the song off and goes, ‘Dang, I wish I would have put you on this one!’ And then he did! So here we are!”

In July, Shelton and Stefani followed “Nobody But You” with their latest collaboration, “Happy Anywhere,” which they actually recorded first. “‘Nobody But You’ was a big song for us, but we actually recorded ‘Happy Anywhere’ before that. We were waiting for the right time to release it, and I knew that time was now,” Shelton told PEOPLE. “We’re all still socially distancing, so there’s no better time to be happy anywhere with the person or people you love.”