The title and September 30, 2014 release date for Bringing Back the Sunshine were both announced on August 1, 2014, one day after Shelton performed a free concert on the beach in Atlantic City to an audience of over 60,000 and the same day that he performed a concert at Madison Square Garden.[15] The album's release date was timed for one week after the premiere of The Voice's seventh season.[16]
Content
Shelton described Bringing Back the Sunshine as "a throwback" to his first few albums, saying, "I want to sing all kinds of songs" but also "I got very far away from what I used to sound like".[17] Reflecting on how country artists had shifted the genre away from its roots over the years, Shelton called himself "guilty of it as anybody" and explained that the album title was chosen to evoke "bringing back" a more traditional style of country music, saying, "The whole album is searching for parts of me that I think have… not gotten lost along the way, but stuff that I haven't addressed in my music as much as I used to, whether it's drinking songs, heartbreak songs or songs about how people treat you. Things like that."[18] He further explained that the tone of Bringing Back the Sunshine deviates from that of Red River Blue and Based on a True Story..., saying, "My last couple of albums have been so positive, because when I made them I was just getting married...But after a while, as a country singer, I gotta get back to singing about getting drunk because there's people out there — and I've been one of them — that have had their heart broken, or they've had a tough day at work, or they get stabbed in the back."[18]
Lead single, "Neon Light", was described by USA Today as "the kind of barroom song that Shelton hasn't released as a single since 2007's "The More I Drink."[19]
The album's third single, "Sangria", was described by Shelton as "one of the sexiest songs" he had ever recorded. Shelton likened the song to the work of Chris Isaak, saying that the song "sounds like something that came from a different time".[22]
"Good Country Song" was written specifically for Shelton and references his favorite music artist, Earl Thomas Conley.[13]
"Anyone Else" was described by USA Today as a song about jealousy within the music industry,[19] although Billboard wrote that the song could also be interpreted as being about "the breakdown of a romantic relationship".[7] Shelton has said, "Nobody will ever know who I'm singing about whenever I'm singing that song."[19] Originally Lambert was going to record the song for her album Platinum. Shelton says that there were two or three songs intended for Platinum that he wanted for himself, including Smokin' and Drinkin', and that he "guilted" Lambert into letting him record "Anyone Else", noting that he had earlier given her a song that he was originally going to record, "The House That Built Me".[19]
The album cover for Bringing Back the Sunshine depicts the water tower in Shelton's hometown of Ada, Oklahoma.[17]
Commercial performance
Bringing Back the Sunshine debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's all genre Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts with a first week sales total of 101,000 copies in the United States.[23] The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on January 7, 2015, and Platinum on October 7, 2016.[24]
In Canada, the album debuted at No. 4 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 7,700 copies in its first week.[25]
