Cliché has achieved its status because it works. It’s based on widely held truth. On Blake Shelton’s latest Single, “Minimum Wage,” he honed in on the truth that love, not money, buys happiness. Specifically, the romantic love that binds two people closer than any other relationship can.
The listeners’ parents may still be alive, or they may not. Listeners may have siblings or may not. Listeners may have kids or may not. None of those dynamics would provide listeners with the feelings felt in the clutches of the right significant other.
The litmus test for Mr. or Mrs. Right, according to Shelton, was evident in his lyrics. That is, the person who loved one before fame and wealth. Because even once one earned those rewards, like the open tab or yacht referenced, it’d only clarify how they pale in comparison to love.
Ultimately, this track illustrated how money, beyond what’s necessary to sustain oneself from day to day, will prove insignificant. There have been no shortage of rich, famous people simultaneously suffering from depression. Neither of those qualities could substitute for love.
Thankfully, for the 99% of listeners living ordinary lives, love has always been attainable. Not only that, but it also has the power to transform surroundings.
To paraphrase Shelton’s chorus…
“Drinking a six pack on the floor tastes like a million bucks, a one-bedroom apartment feels like a mansion, the truck drives like a Cadillac, and minimum wage is plenty when she gives him that look.”
-Blake shelton
Words to live by, especially since relative to the Earth’s evolution, a person’s existence will have finished faster than the blink of an eye. Better to have spent it deeply loving another.
Finding the one and making it last with that person a topic of interest to fellow mainstream crossover star Maren Morris, back when she released her album Girl.
For the closest thing at listeners’ disposal to live music, the performance video below shows off Shelton’s booming voice that could be heard clear across a farm field.
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