On New Year’s Eve, Blake Shelton debuted a surprise new song on NBC’s live countdown show, hosted by Carson Daly.
A cowboy hat-clad Blake Shelton appeared on the TV special virtually from his ranch in Oklahoma. He and Daly, who has hosted The Voice for its entirety, were chatting about how Shelton’s engagement to Stefani completely turned 2020 around.
It also led to Daly introducing a brand-new music video, directed by Shelton’s future-brother-in-law Todd Stefani, to a song titled “Minimum Wage.”
After the video premiered, people started chiming in on social media and calling the song “tone deaf” due to the high rate of unemployment in the country right now.
His now-controversial lyrics include, “Girl, your love is money, your love is money / Yeah, your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage.”
People were commenting on the amount of his net worth, which Google states is $100 million, and how a millionaire singing about minimum wage is “tone deaf.”
Check out some of the reactions below.
Does anyone else find Blake Shelton’s “Minimum Wage” song to be incredibly tone deaf to our country’s current state?
— Kyle Kramer (@KYLE0REN) January 1, 2021
blake shelton singing “your love could make a man feel rich on minimum wage” just cements the fact that rich people have absolutely no fucking clue
— cece 🦇 (@cecemado) January 1, 2021
Though some fans did come to his defense, saying, “Country music is typically written from the point of view of the common man. So give @blakeshelton a break. Singing about minimum wage is no different than singing about dirt roads and cheap beer in solo cups. And stop looking for shit to bitch about.”
https://twitter.com/TheRyanPoland/status/1345437244841201664
Other people who also defended him were country legend Ronnie Dunn and rock legend Sammy Hagar. Shelton took to Twitter to acknowledge them having his back.
When your fans, @RonnieDunn and @sammyhagar have your back it’s gonna be a good year. Bring it on 2021.
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) January 5, 2021
Dunn wrote a note about it and spoke about his blue collar upbringing, crashing on friends’ couches, and just how long it took him to make $100. He even said he wished he wrote the song. See his full statement backing Shelton below.
My two cents… #RonnieDunn #BlakeShelton #MinimumWage #HardWorkinMan #CostOfLivin #WorkingManBlues @blakeshelton pic.twitter.com/nOFVlYP9pI
— RONNIE DUNN (@RonnieDunn) January 4, 2021
The song, which opens with the lyrics “Yeah, I met you ‘fore anyone knew my name
Playin’ for pennies on the dive bar stage,” has yet to be released on any digital platforms.
If you’d like to hear a clip of the song, press play below.