Blake Shelton is no saint, but he has occasionally shared small glimpses of his spiritual life over the years, such as the hymn-like song “Savior’s Shadow.” Released as the second single from his studio album, If I’m Honest, Shelton unequivocally stressed his faith and humility as a guide through trying times in the song.
Music critics highly praised Shelton for making “a huge creative departure” from his earlier work. For instance, Keith Harris wrote for Rolling Stone how he enjoyed the single and felt “that the good ol’ boy’s maturing into a man.” Entertainment Tonight’s Sophie Schillaci, on the other hand, stated that it was a “deeply heartfelt ballad” and applauded its lyrics contrasting the Devil and Jesus.
Though it debuted at the bottom position of the Hot Country Songs chart, only peaking at No. 50, it debuted at No. 17 on the Christian Songs chart and managed to peak at No. 14 two months later.
“I’m not trying to get a No. 1 song out of this,” Shelton said. “I just feel like it needs to be shared with everybody. I feel like people need to be aware of this song for whatever it might mean to them.”
Shelton Wrote The Song After Having Dream
The summer of 2015 was a difficult time for Blake Shelton. After his very public divorce from fellow country star Miranda Lambert, Shelton armed himself with pen and paper to put down some of the most personal songs he’s ever written.
Shelton shared that his divorce heavily influenced the songs included in his 2016 studio album “If I’m Honest,” which will give fans some insight into the split. “I’ve written more than I’ve written in 15 years, for obvious reasons — all the awful things that have happened in my personal life — but the way the year ended is also the greatest of my life,” Shelton said at that time. “If I got hit by a truck, the label would have enough for a new album.”
However, the second single came as a big surprise to many – the slow gospel tune, “Savior’s Shadow,” which Shelton wrote after having a dream. Although the singer could no longer recall the exact dream, Shelton remembered: “four lines of lyrics and [the] melody were clear as day.” So he grabbed his smartphone and sang the passage into the memo function before it was lost.
“I’m standing in my Savior’s shadow. He is watching over me. I feel the rain. I hear the thunder as he cries for me. I’m standing in my Savior’s shadow. Grace will lead to where I’m free. I take his hand. We walk together. And his light shines on me,” the song goes. These words became a powerful source of strength for Shelton.
“We both knew that it wasn’t going to work out, and I was walking around, randomly singing that song to myself, and somehow it would make me feel better,” the singer recalled. “At first, I thought it was that I’m so sad and pitiful that even God feels sorry for me, and He’s crying for me. And then I thought, ‘No, it’s just that He’s on this journey with me and He’s walking with me.'”
The country crooner also enlisted the help of married couple Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall to complete the track, who were oddly experiencing changes in their lives, a lot like Shelton. “It came deep from Blake’s soul, and we were just glad we got to kind of help him birth it,” Alexander said. The couple also supplied the harmony vocals.
“Savior’s Shadow” is definitely unlike anything we’ve ever heard from Blake Shelton before, and we have to admit that we absolutely love it! Tune in and watch Shelton in a breathtaking performance of the song in the video below.
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