Blake Shelton is facing backlash after his performance of a new song called “Minimum Wage” during NBC's New Year's Eve special. The song was intended as a love song for his fiancee Gwen Stefani, however lyrics like “Girl, lookin' at you lookin' at me that way / Can make a man feel rich on minimum wage,” has upset people because it is sung by a multi-millionaire to a multi-millionaire while others are struggling to even make ends meet these days.
Social media comments included, “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 . . .” and “Usually don't care about this stuff but…Millionaire country singer Blake Shelton debuting a song on NBC about how love can make them feel rich on minimum wage. Odd timing with millions unemployed and struggling during a pandemic.”
While Blake hasn't commented on the controversy, Brooks & Dunn's Ronnie Dunn jumped to his defense on social media yesterday (Monday, Jan. 4th) writing in part, “The 'beef' is yet another of those misguided social issue (cultural scams) that are concocted to further divide this country . . . Now, they want to attack country singers for being successful. I slept on a mattress on the floor in a musician friend’s spare bedroom and played BEER JOINTS / DIVE BARS for years before I ever made a $100. Most country singers pay dues and go through things to become successful that no sane human being would.”
He added, “Read the full lyrics to Blake’s song. Hell, I wish I’d written it.”
There is no word yet on whether “Minimum Wage” will be Blake's next radio single.