Miranda Lambert rarely speaks about her marriage to ex-husband Blake Shelton, but in a recent interview with Apple Music, the country superstar opened up about a “special moment” with him. Lambert, 37, shared the story of her 2011 song “Over You,” which she wrote with Shelton, 44. The song is about the death of Shelton’s older brother, Richie, who was killed in a car accident in 1990 at 24 years old.
When Shelton shared the story with Lambert, she asked him if it would be helpful to write about his brother’s death in a song. “My ex-husband, Blake, had lost a brother, and it’s one of those moments where even if you’re married to someone, sometimes you find something new about them,” Lambert said, reports Billboard. “Dudes don’t open up about things, but he started telling me about the experience of it all.”
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Lambert asked him if he ever wrote a song about Richie’s death, which he had not. “He was like, ‘Well, my dad just says, “You don’t get over it. You just get used to it,”‘” Lambert recalled. “And I was like, ‘Well, could we write it? Do you want to try or is that invasive?’”
Lambert said she would never want to write Shelton’s story by herself, but she felt her “outside perspective” would help him put his feelings into words. Shelton agreed, and the result was a hit ballad. The song was released as a single in early 2012 and topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. The song also won Song of the Year at the CMA Awards and ACM Awards. “It was really a special moment and I’m so glad we shared that song and that it helped his family heal, to have that together,” Lambert said of the song.
When Shelton and Lambert accepted the CMA Award together, Shelton gave a tearful speech, recalling how his late father always told him he should write a song about Richie if he became a country star. As for why Shelton did not sing the song himself, Lambert said at the time that Shelton “couldn’t record it for himself or sing it onstage every night, but he would be honored for me to.” Cassadee Pope also sang the song in The Voice Season 3.
Shelton and Lambert married in May 2011 and divorced in 2015. Later that year, Shelton began dating his now-fiancee Gwen Stefani. Lambert married former New York City Police Department Officer Brendan McLoughlin in January 2019. She will release her new album, The Marfa Tapes, on May 7. The album is a collaboration with singer-songwriters Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.
