Blake Shelton wrapped up 2020 by premiering a new song and music video, "Minimum Wage," on NBC's New Year's Eve television special.
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The Oklahoma-born country singer tells of his love for Gwen Stefani with a chorus that goes: "Girl, your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage / Girl, your love is money."
Even if the country music star meant no ill will with this analogy, many on social media found Shelton's lyrics to be out of touch at a time when COVID-19 (the coronavirus pandemic) still leaves many businesses closed or operating at a limited capacity and many Americans under- or unemployed and struggling to pay rent.
"Does anyone else find Blake Shelton's 'Minimum Wage' song to be incredibly tone deaf to our country's current state?," wrote one Twitter user.
"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," adds another Twitter user.
Even relatively positive reactions to the new song question its timing.
"I wish he wrote more of his own music because he's an incredible song writer," read one fan's
