Shakira Drafted Nashville’s Finest for Blake Shelton Duet

For Shakira's country duet with Blake Shelton, the singer wanted to get out of the Los Angeles bubble and work with country experts in Nashville.

The result of her efforts is 'Medicine,' which Shakira worked on with writer Hillary Lindsey and producer Mark Bright, who both have previous credentials working with Carrie Underwood.

"I told [Shelton] I wanted to work with Nashville people," Shakira tells Billboard Magazine. "I was a little tired of L.A. I wanted people with another point of view, real people with roots with whom I feel comfortable working in the same room. And I told Blake I wanted to do a song that had the narrative of a country song, that was picturesque, that was a real song. But it also needed to suit me, because after all, I'm Colombian."

Before asking her fellow coach on 'The Voice' to sing on the song with her, Shakira sent him a version of the tune to see what he thought of it.

"I think she did a hell of a job," Shelton says. "One thing is for someone like her to say she's going to do something and another is to do it. And I'll be damned, a month and a half ago she wrote me and said, 'I wrote the song, and I want you to tell me what you think.' And I said: 'Gosh dang, you did exactly what you said you'd do. It sounds like a hit song.' And then she said, 'Well, do you want to sing on it?' I was honored to do it."