See Ariana Grande’s Hilarious ‘Audition’ for Blake Shelton’s ‘Come Back as a Country Boy’ Video
Blake Shelton is just about as country as can be. In addition to living a redneck lifestyle on his ranch in Oklahoma, he's known for picking country-strong contestants on The Voice, and he's got an ear for what it takes to make it in Nashville. The real question is, do his fellow coaches have what it takes to be country like Shelton?
During the Season 21 finale of The Voice, Ariana Grande shared a "lost audition tape" from when she tried out for Shelton's "Come Back as a Country Boy" music video. She certainly looked the part with her boots, hat, jeans and button-up flannel.
Throughout the audition process, the pop star takes on several stereotypical country "tests" to prove she has what it takes. These include beer catchin', chainsaw crankin', porch sittin' with your dog, beer can crushin' and singin' just like Shelton.
"Blake doesn't think I'm 'country enough,'" Grande states at the start of the video, "But I told him he's so wrong, so hopefully, this will really show him what he needs to see."
Grande also recreated some of the scenes from the real music video, like the part when Shelton kicks over a tree. But rather than a mighty oak of some sorts, she knocks a potted tree off of a faux tree stump. At the 2:10 mark she cracks open a beer (which was most likely handed to her) and proclaims in her best Southern drawl, "Sounds like home." To her credit, she does wink like Shelton.
Grande posted the video on Instagram after the season finale and expressed her love for her country pal in the caption.
Shelton has a lot of love for the Season 21 rookie coach, too. In addition to calling her "the sweetest kid that you'll ever meet," he tells People that Grande's kindness makes her hard to compete with.
"She will look at you with a smile and be sticking the knife straight in your back. She's done it to me a hundred times already," he says. "And it's like, 'Okay. Now I see how it is.' And then she wins you back over, and you're not mad at her anymore."