Blake Shelton‘s new song “Minimum Wage” may have upset some people on social media, but Ronnie Dunn gets it. The Brooks & Dunn singer came to Shelton’s defense after the younger of the two Oklahomans received backlash after performing the song on NBC last Thursday (Dec. 31).
On Twitter, country fans sounded off about the idea of Shelton, a multi-millionaire, singing about life on minimum wage. Dunn argues that simplifies a song he wishes he’d written himself.
“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 / You can make my truck out in the driveway / Roll like a cleaned up Cadillac / Girl, lookin’ at you lookin’ at me that way / Can make a man feel rich on minimum wage,” Shelton sings at the chorus, per Genius. Audio of the song is not available.
USA Today packaged a number of critical responses, most of which look like this:
Dunn called the “beef” another misguided social issue or “cultural scam” meant to further divide the country.
“Now they want to attack country singers for being successful,” he says. “I slept on a mattress on the floor in a musician friend’s spare bedroom and played beer joins / dive bars for years before I ever made $100. Most country singers pay dues and go through things to become successful that no sane human being would.”
The 67-year-old goes on to recall his parents’ blue collar jobs as he grew up before praising “Minimum Wage.”
Shelton and his team haven’t responded to the controversy, and it’s not clear if the singer has plans to make ”Minimum Wage” his next radio single. In setting up the song during his TV appearance, he said that it’s a love song about fiancee Gwen Stefani. The pair came together for each of Shelton’s previous two singles, “Happy Anywhere” and “Nobody But You.”
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