Blake Shelton currently has a Top 40 single, with “Let Him In Anyway.” The song, written by HARDY, Zach Crowell, and Jameson Rodgers, is from Shelton’s latest album, For Recreational Use Only.
Shelton knew as soon as he heard “Let Him In Anyway,” after someone from his label sent it to him, that he wanted to record the song.
“I was just blown away by it,” Shelton tells Country Now. “At one point, I thought, ‘She’s sending me this song. Can I cut this, or is this like the next big artist they’re about to release?’ And I was like, ‘But that sounds like HARDY on that demo.’ And it turns out, obviously, it was.”
The Oklahoma native has been performing “Let Him In Anyway” during his Las Vegas residency, a highlight of each night.
“The reaction in the show is exciting right now, because for the most part, people at the show still haven’t heard it yet,” Shelton shares. “It’s still pretty much a baby song. And so, you get to really see people’s first initial reaction to it. And it’s fun to see these guys that are kind of these stoic dudes sitting by their wives that are bored, unaffected. ‘Why did you drag me to this show?’ By the end of the song, they were crying and like looking at the ground, having to get up and walk around for a minute. And that’s when you know we’ve got something important here, because even those guys can’t pretend like they don’t care.”
Blake Shelton Opens Up About the Video For ‘Let Him In Anyway’
The video for “Let Him In Anyway” was shot in a church in California. With 25 years of songs and music videos, Shelton admits they are no longer his favorite part of his superstar career.
“Anytime you see me in a video, and you think, man, he’s really into it or whatever. I hate filming videos,” Shelton acknowledges. “I mean, I just do not enjoy the process anymore. It used to be super exciting, like ‘I’m going to make a music video!’ Now I’m like, ‘Do we really need to do a video?’”
Still, as soon as Shelton walked into the church where “Let Him In Anyway” was filmed, he knew it was the perfect location.
“It’s a beautiful church, though, really,” Shelton says. “On a serious note, it was absolutely beautiful, and it was a neat moment. I mean, when I walked in there, I did have that attitude of, ‘Oh my God, music video.’ And then I walked in, and they had the lights coming through the stained glass, and it felt like I was walking into a dream or something. It was really neat in there.”
When the video for “Let Him In Anyway” was first released, Shelton explained why they kept it so simple and scaled back.
“It’s one of those songs that really kind of speaks for itself lyrically, so we didn’t want to do anything too over the top with the video,” Shelton says. “We got this beautiful church here, and just kind of let the lyric speak for itself and not try to rewrite the song. Just put it in a place where people can listen to what the song is about, ’cause it’s very powerful.”