After The Voice coach Blake Shelton introduced his new single “Minimum Wage during the NBC New Year’s Eve special on television, a backlash ensued. Apparently. I guess.
During these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as so many folks are out of work and many struggle financially and to even keep a roof over their head, some viewers didn’t appreciate millionaire Blake’s attempt to romanticize low wage earners.
It’s supposed to be a ballad for his fiancee, Gwen Stefani, but she’s rich too. So fans are mad? This story is going viral, and the outlets are using the same handful of tweets from the original TMZ story, although Billboard dug up a few more. I get the feeling the Twitter outrage may be exaggerated.
Lines like, “Girl, your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage” just are, at best, poorly timed for a lot of Blake’s own fans, according to TMZ. Or, typical country music song lyrics? Country lyrics are often about the blue collar dudes drinking brews from the back of a truck. I mean. Just go through Blake’s discography. He’s not mining new material here, people.
I dunno. I’m betting the folks complaining are probably making more than minimum wage, and are just complaining because…that’s why social media exists.
Here are the tweet transcripts posted at TMZ:
“I love his music but the timing for “Minimum Wage” isn’t great. With so many people out of work and struggling the song feels a little tone deaf. I’d like to hear songs that are more personal,” one fan wrote. “Wish he wrote more of his own stuff because he’s an incredible songwriter.”
Another: “The irony of listening to a millionaire Blake Shelton singing about ‘love on minimum wage’ at the end of 2020 might be lost on its target audience.”
Also: “Does anyone else find Blake Shelton’s ‘Minimum Wage’ song to be incredibly tone deaf to our country’s current state?”
And: “The irony of listening to a millionaire Blake Shelton singing about ‘love on a minimum wage’ at the end of 2020 might be lost on its target audience.”
Additionally: “Blake Shelton singing ‘your love could make a man feel rich on minimum wage’ just cements the fact that rich people have absolutely no f****** clue.”
The song is described as his new single, but it hasn’t been released anywhere yet.
