Single Review: Blake Shelton, “Came Here to Forget”

“Came Here to Forget”
Blake Shelton

Written by Deric Ruttan and Craig Wiseman

This is the strongest song that Blake Shelton has recorded in a very long time. It’s incisively bitter, with a cold cynicism that drips with the unvarnished truth.

Two people who still care about the ones they’ve left behind, they check their phones instead of talking to each other. When they don’t hear from the ones they really want to hear from, they settle for the ones they’re with.

Both have the full knowledge that it isn’t real. They just don’t care because they want to pass the time to get past the pain for one night.  It should be a classic country record right out of the gate.

So why isn’t it a country song? Why the washed out backing track that’s more befitting of an elevator, and the weird synthesizer looping riff that sounds to me like a muzak instrumental of Phil Collins’ “That’s All?”

Shelton sings it decently enough, but he needed some fiddle and steel to really get him going. Heck, even a Travis Tritt arrangement would’ve worked.

I really love the song, but the record gets in the way.

Grade: B

2 Comments

  1. Spot on review. Bonus points for getting a Deric Ruttan song on the radio. Talk about an amazing singer who didn’t stand a chance in Nashville.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.