Blake Shelton just scored another No. 1 hit, this time with “God’s Country,” the debut single from an upcoming, still-untitled new album. The success of the song, which was also certified platinum for sales in excess of a million copies, is shocking even to Shelton, because of how long he has been a country music artist.
Wow. “God’s Country” is the #1 song at country radio this week and is already platinum. I can’t say thank you enough. Who would’ve thought that almost 20 years into my career I’d have my biggest hit yet. I love y’all!!
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) July 8, 2019
“Wow. ‘God’s Country’ is the #1 song at country radio this week and is already platinum,” Shelton shared on social media. “I can’t say thank you enough. Who would’ve thought that almost 20 years into my career I’d have my biggest hit yet. I love y’all!!”
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The song was written by HARDY, Devin Dawson and Jordan Schmidt, and came to Shelton at a time he feared his career had already reached its peak.
“This could be the biggest record I’ve ever had,” Shelton told Entertainment Tonight. “I mean, it certainly looks like it could be. And for it to be 18, 19 years now, into my career, and to just now be having that record, I never would have dreamed. I literally thought those days and those types of records for me were 10 years ago, five years ago, and everybody has their moment and then it’s over.”
The upside of having a song at this point in his career is his ability to appreciate it more than he might have several years ago.
“I couldn’t be more thankful and appreciative,” Shelton added. “I think I appreciate something like this now more than I ever would have in the past, because like I said, I kind of felt like my window of time and awards shows and stuff had passed. To have this song, this late in the game, it’s just such a gift. I’m having a blast with it.”
The “God’s Country” video was filmed on Shelton’s sprawling Oklahoma ranch, which was filmed by Sophie Muller, who has done several of his girlfriend Gwen Stefani’s videos.
“When it came time to making the video for ‘God’s Country,’ I was a little bit nervous,” Shelton acknowledged. “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.”
Muller not only signed on to do the video, but had an innovative idea for the video to make the song come to life.
“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.”
Download “God’s Country” on iTunes.
