Blake Shelton denies new single insults Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’
In their new song, the country star and his collaborator Trace Adkins appear to praise God for turning the track off
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Your support makes all the difference.Blake Shelton has denied that his new single insults Lil Nas X’s blockbuster country hit “Old Town Road”.
Shelton’s song “Hell Right”, featuring fellow country star Trace Adkins, sees Shelton singing: “Then the girl from the small town took off the ‘Old Town’, put on a little Hank Jr”, followed by Adkins proclaiming, “Thank God”.
The song earned immediate backlash upon its release last week, particularly the lyrical contrast between Lil Nas X, a young, black and gay artist making music in a space dominated by white and heterosexual artists, and conservative country star Hank Williams Jr, who has previously referred to Barack Obama as “Hitler”.
One Twitter user wrote that the track is “further proof that attempts to protect or save country music are usually attempts to police the borders of who gets to be considered country. And those attempts are too often racist, misogynist and/or anti-queer. Stop it.”
Now a spokesperson for Shelton has denied any insult was meant, telling Variety that the track was “absolutely not throwing any kind of shade at Lil Nas X at all. Blake says this literally has nothing to do with anything at all except how much the song is played. It could have been ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ or any other (overplayed) song.”
The spokesperson also claimed that Shelton had reached out to Billy Ray Cyrus, who features on “Old Town Road”, for approval. “Blake talked to Billy Ray,” said the spokesperson, “and he thought it was funny.” It has not been confirmed whether Shelton attempted to reach out to Lil Nas X himself.
Lil Nas X, meanwhile, joked on Twitter, in a since-deleted tweet, that Shelton’s track “don’t slap like ‘Old Town Road’ tho.”
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