Blake Shelton Shares Serious Video for ‘Savior’s Shadow’

Blake Shelton is showing off his serious and spiritual side in his new music video for "Savior's Shadow," which is the final song on his forthcoming record, If I'm Honest.

It's a simple concept: Shelton sits on a stool with his acoustic guitar, and the black and white film makes it even more subdued. While the video is certainly serious, the lyrics of "Savior's Shadow" dig deep into Shelton's emotions. This isn't just any song: it's a song that came to him via a dream in May 2015.

“That’s when it became apparent that, you know, things weren’t going to work out with my marriage,” the singer tells Billboard. “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."

Though Shelton had heard songs in dreams before, this was the first time he remembered it. He sang the first verse into his voice memo -- but he didn't really understand what it meant. "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."

The first verse says, "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."

But as time went on, Shelton says, "And then I thought, 'No, it’s just that He’s on this journey with me and He’s walking with me.'"

He sent the memo to songwriter Jessi Alexander, and she shared it with her husband Jon Randall (J.R.). “It was so gut-wrenching and beautiful, like the most pure prayer,” she says. “So J.R. walks in the door, and he’s asking me where to put the couch and the boxes, and I got tears in my eyes. I’m like, ‘Well, we have to help Blake finish this song.’"

When Randall sent Shelton the finished song, and according to the Tennessean, he listened to it three times and “cried as if someone I loved just died in front of 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 continues. The chorus is equally vulnerable with a huge amount of trust in its lyrics: "Though the devil try to break me / My sweet Jesus won't forsake me / When I'm in my Savior's shadow / Where I'm supposed to be."

Shelton acknowledges that some fans may push back against a gospel song from the "Boys 'Round Here" hit maker. "I can, on some level, understand a pushback," he acknowledges. "This is from a different place. I feel like that song helped save my life."

Though "Savior's Shadow" was released to country and Christian radio via Play MPE on April 11, there wasn't a whole lot of fanfare or press.

“I’m not trying to get a No. 1 song out of this,” says Shelton. “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.”

“I feel like I was given this song for a reason and I need to do something with it,” he adds. “We tried our best to get it out to as many people as we can. And so far, the reaction has been really special.” Shelton's album If I'm Honest is available for pre-order on iTunes.

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