Gwen Stefani Reflects on the “Chaos” of Her Early Days with Blake Shelton — and Telling Him, “This Is Not Happening”
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Stefani expresses the story of her relationship with Shelton on her new solo album, Bouquet
Gwen Stefani reflects on her journey with Blake Shelton, recalling the early days of their relationship.
The 55-year-old pop star and 48-year-old country singer first connected in 2015 while serving as coaches on The Voice. Both were dealing with divorces — Stefani from Gavin Rossdale and Shelton from Miranda Lambert.
At that time, despite her feelings for Shelton, Stefani was reluctant to start a new relationship.
“We had just met, and it was chaos. Both of our lives were in complete turmoil, everything was falling apart. Nothing could save us at that point,” Stefani shares with PEOPLE. “There was a moment when I thought, ‘I can’t even talk to you. This is crazy. I already have enough problems. This isn’t happening anymore. We’re not going to text or anything.'”
Undeterred, Blake Shelton won Gwen Stefani back — with music.
“I think he really wanted to impress me because he doesn’t write songs as much as he used to. And I love writing songs. That’s everything to me,” Stefani explains. “If I want to feel like I have any kind of purpose or value, it’s through writing songs. That’s where I find my fulfillment.”
Shelton then went on to write what would become “Go Ahead and Break My Heart,” the country duet they released together in 2016.
“He sent it to me, and it was a half-written song. He said, ‘Help me finish this.’ So I wrote the second verse — just over text,” Stefani recalls. “That was the first song we ever wrote together. We weren’t even in the same room, but we were writing a song to each other.”
Today, Stefani and Shelton are not just musical partners but life partners. They tied the knot in 2021.
“Something I wanted since I was a little girl was to be married and have the kind of love I saw my parents have and have kids,” she shares. “That dream was completely shattered; it was crushed, and I had to figure out how to move forward and create a new dream. And God putting Blake in my life was just that miracle.”
Over the last nine years, the couple has collaborated on several more songs, including “Purple Irises,” which appears on Stefani’s latest album, Bouquet
“We come from such different worlds. Our musical tastes are different, but there’s one thing we both love: ’70s soft rock and yacht rock,” Stefani explains. “When we first got together, we would play this game where we’d put on a song and ask, ‘Do you know this one?’ And it was always these ’70s songs.”
Their mutual appreciation for yacht rock inspired “Purple Irises,” a romantic track about Shelton that evolved into a duet and helped shape the overall direction of Bouquet.