Blake Shelton responds to backlash from his new song 'Minimum Wage'

When Blake Shelton performed his song "Minimum Wage" during the countdown to 2021, the track received mixed reactions from fans.

Now he's clearing up any confusion and addressing the true meaning behind the track, which was called "tone deaf" by some critics.

Speaking with CMT Thursday morning, a day before the record hit airwaves, "The Voice" coach, who is currently engaged to Gwen Stefani, explained, "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."

The 44-year-old country singer added that the song, which includes the lyrics "Girl, your love can make a man feel rich on minimum wage," stems from his own personal experience when he "struggled" to get by early in his career.

"I just related to the lyrics so much, you know? Just like probably 95% of artists out there, I struggled for so long to get by," he said.

"Those days when the big struggle was, 'Man, do I pay my rent or my electric bill, or do I just say screw it and go buy some beer?' You had to decide because you didn’t have enough to go around," he added.

Even though "Minimum Wage" was relatable for Shelton, he admitted that he wasn't shocked that some listeners misunderstood the song.

"I just feel like these days, there are people out there who don’t want to know the truth," he said. "They just want to hear what they want to hear, and they want to pick a fight. No matter what your intention is, no matter what the truth is, they want it to be something that they can be upset about so that they can get on social media and try to grab a headline."

He said if the "true meaning" of the song is offensive to his listeners, "then we'll just have to agree to disagree."