Gwen Stefani Believes Her Relationship With Blake Shelton ‘Saved’ Her
on Mar 16, 2016 • Updated Mar 17, 2023
Gwen Loves Blake
Gwen Stefani was always open about the fact that her single, “Make Me Like You” is about her relationship with Blake Shelton. The couple married in July 2021.
But as she shared in a interview with Us Weekly, Shelton served as an inspiration for her whole album, 2016’s This Is What the Truth Feels Like.
Their Shared Heartache
The year prior to the album’s release was an emotional one for Stefani. That year, she went through a divorce with her husband of 13 years, Gavin Rossdale. Following her decision to file for divorce, Stefani turned to her music, and found comfort in songwriting.
“I didn’t have any kind of musical direction for this album,” she said. “Every song was written around emotions…Every song was written purely out of whatever my heart was going through at that moment.“
So far @gwenstefani "This is What The Truth Feels Like" has been the soundtrack to my year ❤️ it 🎼🎤👌🏻💋 #GwenStefani pic.twitter.com/5kUjw7327I
— Stephen W. G. Bentley (@StephenBentley1) August 18, 2016
Shelton, who also went through a divorce in 2015, connected with Stefani over their shared hardships while both were coaches on Season Nine of The Voice. Stefani said it’s like fate brought them together, and they’ve bonded over their similar experiences:
“I think that when you go through what I went through, or what I’m still going through, you think you’re hopeless. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You panic. It was a really super-unexpected gift to find a friend, somebody who happened to be going through the exact same thing as me, literally mirroring my experience. I don’t think it’s an accident that that happened. It saved me.”
Blake’s Own Take On Things
Two days after Steani’s album dropped, Shelton released one of his own, called If I’m Honest, Shelton’s album also includes a lot of personal songs, including “Came Here to Forget,” which seems to be about his divorce and his newfound love with Stefani.
“I’ve had a lot of music over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a song before that’s such a direct look into my life,” Shelton said about the song in a statement.
You can listen to “Came Here to Forget” below.
What do you think of what Stefani had to say about how Shelton influenced her album?
