Blake Shelton Reveals His Label Scrapped ‘I Wanna Talk About Me’ Before Toby Keith Took It To No. 1

Before it became a smash hit for Toby Keith, “I Wanna Talk About Me”  was almost a Blake Shelton single. Shelton shared the story about the track and what could have been during an appearance on The Bobby Bones Show. 

In 2001, Toby Keith dropped “I Wanna Talk About Me” as the second single from his Pull My Chain album. Its spoken-word style made it stand out from everything else on country radio at the time, with many labeling it as “country rap.”

The chorus goes: “I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about i/ Wanna talk about number one, oh my, me my/ What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see/ I like talking about you, you, you, you usually/ But occasionally, I wanna talk about me (me, me, me, me)/ I wanna talk about me (me, me).”  

Despite the song’s style, it climbed all the way to the top of the charts. What many don’t know is that Shelton actually recorded it first. But after a focus group rejected it, Shelton’s label pulled the plug, and he missed out on what could’ve been massive career success. 

“Bobby Braddock wrote the song for me because I used to go into the studio when we were working on my first album, and I would always have these stupid raps that I would make up about whatever that day. And Bobby said, ‘oh, you want to sing a rap song? I wrote you a rap,” Shelton recalled to Bones. 

“And so we recorded the song and it was going to be on my album. And at the time, I was on Giant Records and they did some of those focus group testing things about that stuff, Bobby. And it was like they wanted to play four or five songs for these groups. And the testing came back that on, ‘I Want To Talk About Me,’ It was so terrible that they said, ‘Not only do we not want this to be a single, but we don’t even think you should put it on your album. It’s that horrifying of a song.’ And then of course Toby recorded it and I think had a two month number one record on it.” 

This situation proved that focus groups don’t always work. 

“Those focus groups really nail it,” Shelton quipped. 

Blake Shelton’s appearance on The Bobby Bones Show was in support of his just-announced 2026 Las Vegas residency, which will take place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, with eight performances scheduled from January 15 through 31, 2026. Shelton previously performed at the venue earlier this year and said he’s excited to return. 

“It holds maybe three or 4,000 people..But I loved it for that reason because it is more of an intimate performance by the end of the night,” Shelton explained. “I mean, I literally recognize people in the audience. It’s like you’ve been singing to ’em all night, which couple’s in a fight and who’s already drunk.. and you’re that close to ’em and a lot of actual conversations and things end up happening from the stage, which you can never do in an arena or at a festival or something. So for that reason, it’s been one of my favorite experiences as an entertainer that I’ve had in a long time since back in the day of playing a small acoustic show or something where you’re really that intimate and you can tell stories and people listen and respond.” 

Tickets for Blake Shelton: Live in Las Vegas at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace go on sale to the public on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. PT at Ticketmaster.com/BlakeSheltonVegas.