Before a song (or a whole new album) from one of our favorite artists makes it to our ears, there are a lot of different things happening behind the scenes. There are so many songs that we’ll never hear after they didn’t make the final album cut. And sometimes, one song will be passed around by different artists until it finally finds its home.
During a recent appearance on The Bobby Bones Show, country star Blake Shelton revealed that he originally recorded Toby Keith‘s mega-hit, “I Wanna Talk About Me,” but ended up letting go of the song after a focus group led him to believe that it would be a total flop.
As Shelton explained in the interview, which was shared on TikTok by radio station @955thebull, his producer at the time, Bobby Braddock, knew he wanted to branch out into more fun-sounding songs, so he wrote “I Wanna Talk About Me,” and Shelton recorded it.
But then, his label held a focus group for the new song, and it didn’t get the reaction he and his team were hoping for.
“It was so terrible that they said ‘not only do we not want this to be a single, we don’t even think you should put it on your album. It’s that horrifying of a song,'” he said.
“And then, of course, Toby recorded it and I think had a two month number one record on it,” Shelton said, laughing.
It’s hard to imagine Shelton being the voice behind such an iconic song of Keith’s, and he’s had plenty of his own hits since then, so maybe it all worked out for the best in the end?
Blake Shelton Honored the Late Toby Keith at the 2024 American Country Music Awards
Shelton and Keith weren’t just fellow country musicians — they were also friends. That much was obvious when Shelton paid tribute to him at the 2024 American Country Awards, following his death in February 2024.
“In the end, the mark that Toby left was much more than just that: Toby was a loving husband to his beautiful wife Tricia [Lucus],” Shelton said in his emotional speech. “He was a proud father to their three kids and we’re so honored and moved to have Tricia and the kids all here with us tonight.”
“Toby was a great friend to me and he was a real straight shooter who was larger than life and he always would shoot you straight, right till the very end of his very brave ride, that ended way too soon,” he added.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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