YMMV / Blake Shelton

• Covered Up:
  • "Ol' Red" had been previously recorded by both George Jones and Kenny Rogers.
  • "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" was originally recorded by Joe Nichols.
  • His version of "God Gave Me You" vs. the original by Dave Barnes.
  • While not a single, his version of "Kiss My Country Ass" seems to have overtaken Rhett Akins' original in popularity.
• Critical Dissonance: His first three albums had traditional-leaning country that won him critical acclaim but produced hit-and-miss results on the charts; Pure BS and Startin’ Fires were an awkwardly mediocre transitory period; and Hillbilly Bone onward has found him taking on a more ‘modern’ sound that has rendered him a golden boy on the airplay charts (including a white-hot streak of number-one hits), but at the cost of critical derision for his more generic style.
• Fandom Rivalry: His and Miranda Lambert's fandom got ugly after their divorce. The fact that they both released songs inspired by the divorce doesn't help either.
• First Installment Wins: His debut single "Austin" is still considered one of his best songs by many.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: His first album contains a song titled "Same Old Song", which criticizes contemporary country music as too bland... a criticism hurled at Blake's own material in The New '10s.
• Magnificent Bastard: From "Ol' Red": The unnamed narrator is sentenced to 99 years of hard labour for murdering his wife and her lover. As soon as he arrives at a prison farm, he spends the next two years being a model prisoner so that the warden assigns him to take care of his escapee-hunting dog Ol' Red. Soon after, he contacts his cousin and has him bring his dog down for Red to mate with during his evening runs. After a while of doing this, the narrator breaks out at the time he does his runs, fleeing in the opposite direction from Red's run so he's distracted by routine.
• Seasonal Rot: Many fans feel that his quality took a nosedive from Hillbilly Bone onward, when Scott Hendricks took over as his producer. Main points of criticism include a boring overly polished sound an over-reliance on saccharine Silly Love Songs and "country boy"-type songs that are already overdone in Nashville.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "The Baby". Narrator reminisces on his mother, who insists that he will always be her baby. He moves on in life, then gets word that his mother is dying. He doesn't make it in time.
  • "When Somebody Knows You That Well", with the male narrator realizing he can't hide emotions from anyone that he loves.