ET was with the country star as he filmed the music video for his new single, 'No Body,' at an iconic bar in Long Beach, California.
Blake Shelton is embracing his roots. The country superstar is bringing on all the '90s nostalgia with his latest single, "No Body," and its wildly "goofy" music video.
"I felt like the world needs to just have some fun for a minute," Shelton tells ET's Cassie DiLaura on the set of his video, which was filmed recently at the iconic bar from Thelma & Louise in Long Beach, California.
"The thing about this song, once we cut it and were listening to it back, is like, 'Man, I don't know if we meant to do this but it kind of sounds like '90s country music to me," he says. "That's one of the things I love about Luke Combs' records, you know, he sounds like he could have made those records in the '90s and people are really drawn to that."
Shelton, who arrived on the Nashville scene in 1994 before breaking through with his self-titled debut album in 2001, had no trouble slipping right back into his old boots, so to speak.
"I thought, 'Man, I'll just go back to the old Blake, put my hat back on and put a mullet wig on and make a video,'" he jokes. "Because this song sounds like it came out of that era. That's why I thought it would be a great song for now, though, because I feel like lately we all kinda long for the good old days."
The joyful clip features plenty of line dancing and '90s fashion which, Shelton jokes, has him totally in his comfort zone. "I feel like myself again," he teases, while also reflecting on why he ditched his signature mullet in the first place.
"I don't miss it," he quips of the long locks. "It's hot, it just sticks to my neck ... it drives me nuts. I instantly remembered how much my hair got on my nerves back in the day, but I wouldn't give it up because people were asking me to cut my hair. And because they were asking me, and the record label was pressuring me, there was no way in hell I was gonna cut it -- just out of spite."
As far as Shelton's style evolution goes, his party-in-the-back did seem to get shorter and shorter throughout 2006 before disappearing completely, at which point he appeared to also hang up his cowboy hats in favor of baseball caps or free-flowing locks.
Then, in 2020 quarantine, wife Gwen Stefani helped the mullet make its (short-lived) comeback with a quintessential pandemic home haircut.
"The best part about that haircut, to me, is how short she cut the sides of my hair," he says, drawing attention to the stripes Stefani shaved on the side of his head.
"I was doing Jimmy Fallon's show on the laptop on the back porch of the house, and Gwen came and was giving me a haircut during the interview," he recalls. "That's one of my favorite memories. You have to look at the silver lining of quarantine and for me, it was bread -- eating bread all day -- and being able to work and do music and talk shows from the house."
Still, Shelton is pleased that he'll be able to get back out to live audiences soon. Though he says "No Body" is, at this point, not slated for any planned album release, he'll never stop making and performing country music.
"All I ever consider myself was a country singer," he says. "I love country music and that's on my horizon --- from a career standpoint -- just keeping that thing going and having songs on the radio and being able to go out and tour and play. That's what I do. I am a country singer."
RELATED CONTENT:
