After boasting about their “Hillbilly Bone” in 2010, Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins reunite for Shelton’s new single “Hell Right.” It’s every bit as chest-puffing as one might expect, with Shelton commanding, “If you’re gonna raise hell, then you better damn raise hell right” in the tongue-twisting chorus.
Written by David Garcia, Brett Tyler, and Michael Hardy (a.k.a. the solo artist Hardy), the song takes a subtle jab at Lil Nas X’s is-it-country? sensation “Old Town Road.” “The girl from the small town took off the old town and put on a little Hank Jr.,” sings Shelton, to which Adkins replies, “Thank God.”
Still, this isn’t an indictment of hip-hop country crossovers, but a celebration of blowing off steam with a handle of booze and a bonfire, the party-ready antithesis to Shelton’s brooding last single “God’s Country.” The Oklahoma native and star of NBC’s The Voice also recently appeared on another duet: with Garth Brooks on the superstar’s “Dive Bar.”
“This song is about taking things to the max,” Shelton said of “Hell Right” in a statement. “You can raise hell or you can raise hell right. It’s about cutting loose and having fun the right way. I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles these days, but when I hear songs like this on the radio, I am immediately thinking about being back home and what I’d be doing if I was there.”
