Blake Shelton Shares Music Video for New Single ‘Minimum Wage’

After releasing his new single, “Minimum Wage,” last month, Blake Shelton has shared the music video for the song, dropping the clip on Friday, Feb. 12. The video was directed by Shelton’s future brother-in-law Todd Stefani and was shot at the Tishomingo, Oklahoma location of Shelton’s bar, Ole Red.

The video sees Shelton performing the song with his band in front of a small audience, an experience most of us probably last had at least one year ago. Speaking to CMT about the shoot, Shelton revealed that there was “a lot of Covid protocol in place” during the shoot. “I really felt like the video needed to be a live performance so we had a few fans at Ole Red in Tishomingo,” he said. “Of course every one had to be pre-tested and re-tested and temperature checks and social distancing. And every time the camera stopped rolling someone would yell, ‘Masks Up!’ There’s a lot of camera magic happening too because it looks like the place was packed.”

The Voice coach explained that “Minimum Wage” “has such a great tempo,” and since he can’t play it live for fans right now, he figured the music video was the next best thing. “I can’t wait to be able to get back out on the road and play it for fans,” Shelton shared. “So I felt really strongly that the music video needed to be a live performance with the crowd having fun!”

“What I hope people take away from the video is that live show feel,” he continued. “That sense of fun and community we have out there on the road. I’m ready to play shows, I’m ready to go see shows and I know music fans everywhere are, too.”

“Minimum Wage” sparked a bit of controversy upon its initial premiere, but for Shelton, it’s just another love song. “Whatever this backlash is is just four or five people that probably don’t know anything about country music,” he said. “They clearly hadn’t heard the song or read the lyrics. If they had, they couldn’t feel this way about the song. 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. You got it if you got that. That’s all that matters. And if that’s offensive to you, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”