With his fourth album, 2007’s Pure BS, Blake Shelton found himself at a crossroads. After the RIAA Platinum-certified success of 2004’s Blake Shelton’s Barn and Grill, the Oklahoma native was on enough of a tear to take some risks and get more ambitious and expansive with his sound. But his life was in turmoil—he was putting together Pure BS while divorcing his first wife. These transformational experiences made Shelton reckless and reflective, and he outfitted the record with both roadhouse rockers and thoughtful ballads. The production on Pure BS is notably glossier than on previous Shelton offerings. It’s the first record he released not produced solely by country veteran Bobby Braddock; both Paul Worley and Brent Rowan also produced, and there’s a shift from Shelton’s previously unadorned vocals into poppier sonic territory. Generally, that translates to arena-ready tracks—on both the boisterous and quiet sides—like the riffy “This Can’t Be Good” and breakup song “Don’t Make Me,” on which Shelton lets his voice soar. He’ll always have a hard time staying out of the honky-tonk, but while “The More I Drink” might sound like a drinking song, it subverts those tropes to get to truths about addiction. But, largely, pop rules, as on the heartbreaking piano ballad “Back There Again” or the grooving “She Can’t Get That.” Despite getting on board with the change, Shelton laments Nashville radio’s shifting sonic landscape on “The Last Country Song,” enlisting the timeless voices of John Anderson and George Jones (whose iconic “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was co-written by Shelton’s producer Braddock) for the elegiac barnburner. But the best-performing single from Pure BS might be evidence that the shift was bound to continue as country music evolved through the late 2000s; Shelton’s cover of pop crooner Michael Bublé’s yearning “Home” went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. And it may have pointed toward a future development for Shelton himself, too, as country superstar—and Shelton’s second wife—Miranda Lambert sang along with him on the track.