Blake Shelton’s next single will be released Tuesday (March 8), and the singer and The Voice star says it’s his most personal ever. “Came Here to Forget” is the first peek at his 12th studio album, expected later this year.

Craig Wiseman and Deric Ruttan co-wrote “Came Here to Forget,” Shelton’s highly-anticipated first release from a project he’s been working on for months. “I’ve had a lot of music over the years but I don’t think I’ve ever had a song before that’s such a direct look into my life,” he says. “That’s why I’m so excited about this particular song.”

“Personal” is how Shelton has described other songs from the project, as well. In August he tweeted that he’d just written a very important song with Jon Randall and Jessi Alexander. In January he expanded, telling Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton that he’s written more for this album then he had in 15 years, “for obvious reasons.”

“… All the awful things that have happened in my personal life — but the way the year ended is also the greatest of my life,” he says, referring to his recent divorce from Miranda Lambert and start of a relationship with Gwen Stefani.

“I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, and that’s put all I’ve gone through and put it into music, and I never felt more connected to a record before. When people hear this record, they may not know what happened to me, but they’re gonna know how I felt about it. And that’s exciting for me, to just lay it out there for people.”

Look for Shelton on the 10th season of The Voice on NBC this month. He's also on the road — he’ll close his winter tour in Pittsburgh in March. In June, Shelton will headline the 2016 Country Jam in Grand Junction, Colo.

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