Miranda Lambert is opening up about how her divorce from Blake Shelton inspired one of the most emotionally raw albums of her career.
The country singer, 42, reflected on the painful 2015 split during an Oct. 27 appearance on the “And The Writer Is…”podcast, revealing how she channeled her heartbreak into songwriting after moving back to Nashville to start over.
“When I moved back in 2015, I gathered up all of my friends and relationships from all of the previous years and just used it,” Lambert said. “Used the misery.”
The Grammy winner admitted that she drew inspiration from virtually every aspect of her life during that period, including nights spent out at honky-tonks with friends who were also songwriters.
Lambert Revealed What She Was Going Through
“I used what I was living, and my friends went on that journey with me—friends being songwriters. And I think I wrote 75 songs,” she recalled.
That creative outpouring eventually helped shape her 2016 double album, “The Weight of These Wings,” which explored the emotions surrounding the end of her marriage.
Lambert said spending much of that year writing and playing guitar helped her develop as both a vocalist and a songwriter.
“It was kind of magical,” she explained, comparing the experience with making her previous album, Platinum. “It wasn’t writing towards a specific record or a sound or a feisty or whatever. It was raw emotion.”
Lambert Calls Divorce From Blake Shelton a Difficult Time
Lambert and the “Voice” coach announced their divorce in July 2015 after four years of marriage and approximately a decade together.
The breakup was particularly challenging because of the attention surrounding their relationship and their careers in country music.
“I got divorced, and that sucks for anyone, especially in the public eye,” Lambert said. “Especially on tour, especially in the middle of a very public career.”
She described the experience as “a really not fun time.”
In a 2015 interview with Cosmopolitan, Lambert also spoke candidly about trying to understand what had happened to their marriage, per ET.
“We were together for 10 years, married for four, were very quickly divorced, and are friends,” she told the magazine. “I’m still processing everything and figuring out where to go and what happened.”
Lambert acknowledged that marriage requires work, adding that she and Shelton had given their relationship their best effort.
The former couple also addressed their separation in a joint statement to the Associated Press, saying, “This is not the future we envisioned. And it is with heavy hearts that we move forward separately. We are real people, with real lives, with real families, friends and colleagues.”
At the time, Lambert said another marriage was not something she was considering.
“It’s not about a piece of paper or a diamond. It’s the way you feel about somebody and the commitment in your heart,” she told Cosmopolitan.
Lambert Found Love Again After Divorce
Although Lambert described difficult nights following her split from Shelton, her romantic life eventually took another turn.
She married former New York City Police Department officer Brendan McLoughlin in January 2019, nearly four years after her divorce.
Meanwhile, Shelton began dating singer Gwen Stefani in 2015. The couple married in July 2021.
Comments
Miranda Lambert Vulnerably Opens Up About Divorce From Blake Shelton – ‘Used the Misery’