If I'm Honest

If I'm Honest is the tenth studio album by American country music singer Blake Shelton. It was released on May 20, 2016 via Warner Bros. Nashville. The album was produced by Shelton's longtime producer Scott Hendricks and features collaborations with Gwen Stefani and The Oak Ridge Boys.

Background
According to Shelton the album is very personal and addresses his high and lows of 2015.

One of the album's tracks, "Green", was previously included on Shelton's 2008 album Startin' Fires.

The album's tenth track "Friends", is the theme song to the 2016 film The Angry Birds Movie, which was released on the same day as the album. The song is also featured on its corresponding soundtrack.

Singles
"Came Here to Forget" is the album's first single, and it was released on March 8, 2016. The song debuted at number one on the Country Digital Chart and has sold 136,000 copies as of March 2016.

The second album from the album, "Savior's Shadow", was released on April 8, 2016. This song impacted Christian radio on April 11, 2016 in addition to the country format.

"She's Got a Way with Words" was released on June 6, 2016 as the album's third overall and second promotional single.

"A Guy with a Girl" became the album's fourth single on September 26, 2016.

"Every Time I Hear That Song" was released as the fifth single on February 20, 2017.

Critical reception
This album has a 58 Metascore from Metacritic utilizing five reviews, meaning it has been given mostly mixed reviews by critics. AllMusic's own Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that the album "is at its core a balladeer's record, and Shelton pulls off these romance tunes with a sly, masculine grace that complements the album's sleek modern surfaces." Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly states, "What's more: the album’s breezy Nashville-pop tunes never strike below the surface. Small wonder the toss-off songs seem more credible." Rolling Stone's Keith Harris reported that "Shelton's warmly confident delivery makes those romantic twists and turns sound both lived in but universal".

Glenn Gamboa of Newsday says, "But the bulk of 'If I’m Honest' is a mix of letting old relationships go and starting new ones." In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood suggests in the home of country music, "the default setting is polished professionalism; rawness actually takes time. And here Shelton seldom pushes beyond that finesse to reach something less smooth." Erik Ernst, writing for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, opines that "this disc's balance of modern verve, emotional introspection and country inflection is where Shelton is supposed to be." In the review for Consequence of Sound, Janine Schaults responds with "Country pop star's post-breakup album flounders under too many glitzy, cheesy pop flourishes." Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel says that "Blake Shelton sounds more like a savvy marketer than any kind of artist".

Commercial performance
The album debuted at No. 3 on U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 153,000 copies (170,000 album equivalent units) during its first week. It also debuted at No. 1 the Top Country Albums chart. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 23, 2016. It became the eleventh best-selling album of 2016 in the United States with over 522,000 copies sold that year. As of November 2017, the album has sold 627,300 copies in the U.S.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the standard edition of If I'm Honest.


 * Blake Shelton – lead vocals
 * Roy Agee – trombone
 * Duane Allen – background vocals
 * Hari Bernstein – viola
 * Jessica Blackwell – violin
 * Joe Bonsall – background vocals
 * Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
 * Perry Coleman – background vocals
 * Paul DiGiovanni – programming
 * Charles Dixon – cello
 * Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
 * William Lee Golden – background vocals
 * Aubrey Haynie – fiddle, mandolin
 * Steve Herrmann – trumpet
 * Wes Hightower – background vocals


 * Jim Horn – saxophone
 * Charlie Judge – string arrangements, synthesizer
 * Troy Lancaster – electric guitar
 * Tony Lucido – bass guitar
 * Gordon Mote – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, piano
 * Emily Nelson – cello
 * Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar
 * Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
 * Gwen Stefani – guest vocals
 * Richard Sterban – background vocals
 * Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar
 * Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar
 * Derek Wells – acoustic guitar, electro-acoustic guitar
 * Nir Z. – drums, percussion, programming