Blake Shelton said his latest duet with Gwen Stefani isn’t a song she’d typically sing.

Shelton included the new heartache anthem with his wife on his latest album, For Recreational Use Only, a 12-track album that arrived on Friday (May 9). It’s Shelton’s first studio album in four years, following 2021’s Body Language. “Hangin’ On,” written by Sam Ellis, Charles Kelley and Greylan James, is one of three duets that appears on Shelton’s new record, and Shelton said he “didn’t even want to record the song” if Stefani didn’t agree to sing it with him.

“She’s so funny because she’s weird about singing a song that’s like, she can’t find herself in the story or lyric or whatever,” Shelton said on TODAY with Jenna & Friends on Tuesday (May 13). He also performed on TODAY, and spoke about how Post Malone “lit a fire” that helped motivate the country star to release more music. “It’s a breakup song, but it’s just so fun to sing with her. I didn’t even want to record the song if she wasn’t gonna sing it with me.”

“I hear you’re hangin’ on/ The other the side of this town/ Somehow that messes me up/ Wonder if that picture of us/ Is still hangin’ on/ That paisley wall in your room/ Or did you take it down/ I should’ve let go by now/ But I keep hangin’ on/ To every word you said/ Like some ol’ faded tee/ Wish I could take you off/ But you keep hangin’ on to me”

“I can’t believe it’s been four years since we released an album, and I’m excited to get the whole record out there,” Shelton said in a statement when he released For Recreational Use Only. “I’ve always been someone who wants to collect great songs but sometimes the hardest thing to do is to find something that hasn’t been said or written before or a melody that we haven't heard. I’m always on the search for that. I look back over the years, and I’m just proud because some of those songs don’t sound like anything else. And I think we did it again with this album.”

Rachel Elliot