Blake Shelton defends his song 'Minimum Wage' after people called it tone-deaf: 'They want to pick a fight'
- Blake Shelton has responded to backlash about his new song "Minimum Wage," telling CMT News that his critics "clearly hadn't heard the song or read the lyrics."
- "No matter what your intention is, no matter what the truth is, they want it to be something that they can be upset about so that they can get on social media and try to grab a headline," he said.
- "It's literally a love song about how if times are tight and you ain't got much money — as long as you have love and you're happy — at the end of the day, that's all any of us can really hope for," he continued. "And if that's offensive to you, then we'll just have to agree to disagree."
- In the song, which Shelton premiered during NBC's New Year's Eve televised event, he sings: "Your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage."
- In light of the pandemic's effect on American employment, some people described the song as tone-deaf and insensitive.
Blake Shelton is defending his new song "Minimum Wage" after some listeners called it tone-deaf and insensitive.
In a new interview with CMT News, the 44-year-old country singer told Alison Bonaguro the backlash didn't surprise him - but that his critics "clearly hadn't heard the song or read the lyrics."
"I just feel like these days, there are people out there who don't want to know the truth," he said. "They just want to hear what they want to hear, and they want to pick a fight."
"No matter what your intention is, no matter what the truth is, they want it to be something that they can be upset about so that they can get on social media and try to grab a headline," he continued. "With 'Minimum Wage,' at first I thought, 'Wow, I guess I just I've missed something here.' And the more I read into this, I realized this was really not real."
"Whatever this backlash is, is just four or five people that probably don't know anything about country music," he added.
Shelton insisted that it's "literally a love song," so "if that's offensive to you, then we'll just have to agree to disagree."
In the song, which Shelton premiered during NBC's New Year's Eve televised event, he compares feeling loved to being wealthy.
"You can make a six-pack on the carpet / Taste like a million-dollar bill / You can make a one-bedroom apartment / Feel like a house up on the hill," he sings in the chorus. "Girl, lookin' at you lookin' at me that way / Can make a man feel rich on minimum wage."
As Insider's Darcy Schild previously reported, "Minimum Wage" was negatively received on social media.
Many people took to Twitter to tell the celebrity to "read the room," calling the release tone-deaf in light of the coronavirus pandemic's effect on American employment.
"A mega-millionaire romanticizing minimum wage is peak 2020," one person wrote.
According to Fox Business, Shelton's net worth could land somewhere between $60 million and $100 million, largely thanks to his long-running gig as a coach on NBC's "The Voice."
Shelton told CMT News he "struggled for so long to get by" before his career took off, but that he "wouldn't trade those times for anything."
"Those days when the big struggle was, 'Man, do I pay my rent or my electric bill, or do I just say screw it and go buy some beer?' You had to decide because you didn't have enough to go around," he said. "But those really were some of the best days of my life that I still think about all the time."
Shelton said he recorded "Minimum Wage" - which was written by Nicolle Galyon, Corey Crowder, and Jesse Frasure - because he "related to the lyrics so much."
"I have to say, if we have to start thinking like this, then I guess that'll be where I have to bow out," he said of the backlash. "Because that's one of the longest-standing traditions in country music is lyrics about love. And if you've got love, then that's all that matters."
"There won't be much left to play or write about on country radio if this is something that we have to think twice about," he continued. "So I'm going to put out the records that resonate with me and my life and not look back."
"As country artists and as an industry, we have to stay focused here and know that what's right is right. And I believe this song is a great message and I'm proud of it."