Miranda Lambert Details Writing ‘Over You’ With Blake Shelton

Songwriting has always been a refuge, she says.

Written by Chris Parton
Miranda Lambert Details Writing ‘Over You’ With Blake Shelton
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: Recording artists Blake Shelton (L) and Miranda Lambert arrive at the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Miranda Lambert explores the stories behind her biggest hits on the latest episode of Essentials Radio on Apple Music, and some of them are more personal than you might think.

Chatting with host Kelleigh Bannen, Lambert opened up about how much songwriting has done for her … and not just in terms of her career. The hit maker who’s new album is titled The Marfa Tapes (with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall) even explained how it helped deepen her first marriage. Back when she and fellow country star Blake Shelton were together, she said, they wrote the incredibly powerful 2012 hit, “Over You,” which was pulled from a real tragedy.

“My ex-husband, Blake, had lost a brother and it’s one of those moments where even if you’re married to someone, sometimes you find something new about them,” Lambert explained. “Dudes don’t open up about things but he started telling me about the experience of it all. And I was like, ‘Have you ever written about it?’ Same thing. And he’s like, ‘No,’ and he was like, ‘Well, my dad just says, “You don’t get over it. You just get used to it.” And I was like, “Well, could we write it? Do you want to try or is that invasive?”‘

“I would never try to write your story because I didn’t live it, but maybe I could help because I’m an outside perspective but I feel your pain talking to me right now,” Lambert went on. “It was really a special moment and I’m so glad we shared that song and that it helped his family heal, to have that together.”

Later in the show, Lambert talks about everything from her first CMA Awards performance to how “The House That Built Me” is the best thing she’s ever recorded — another track with a connection to Shelton, since it was originally pitched to him. But Lambert also leaned on music for healing after their divorce, and it was once again songwriting which saved the day.

“[The Weight of These Wings] was just a record I needed to make. I guess probably every artist has those songs or records in their timeline at some point. It’s just something you need to do for yourself,” she said. “Everything was so noisy and so chaotic in my life and my personal life and my personal life was splayed all over for the public. And it just was like … I stopped talking. I was wearing all black on stage. I just stopped talking at all … And I was like, ‘Man, I need to tell my story myself and where I’m at myself and I can do that because I’m a songwriter.'”

The Marfa Tapes from Miranda Lambert with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall is out May 7, and the trio just shared “Am I Right or Amarillo.”