Despite the happy title of Blake Shelton's upcoming album 'Bringing Back the Sunshine,' the singer says that the album is change in direction for him.

The first clue that the release wasn't going to be full of the happy songs Shelton has become known for, like the tunes from his previous two albums, was the release of the new project's album artwork, a somber black and white photo of a water tower.

"My last couple of albums have been so positive, because when I made them I was just getting married. It's been in this awesome place," Shelton tells Rolling Stone Country. "But after a while, as a country singer, I gotta get back to singing about getting drunk because there's people out there — and I've been one of them — that have had their heart broken, or they've had a tough day at work, or they get stabbed in the back."

Shelton seems to be taking a step back to singing about some of the darker parts of himself, and he says that this album will be grittier than his last two studio releases, 2011's 'Red River Blue' and last year's 'Based on a True Story.'

"The whole album is searching for parts of me that I think have … not gotten lost along the way, but stuff that I haven't addressed in my music as much as I used to, whether it's drinking songs, heartbreak songs or songs about how people treat you. Things like that," he says.

'Bringing Back the Sunshine' is set for release on Sept. 30. The first single off the album, 'Neon Light,' is available for download for fans who preorder the album on iTunes or Amazon.

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