Nation singer Oliver Anthony has been within the headlines not too long ago after his tune ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’ was criticised as a “right-wing anthem” and branded “offensive”.

Within the eight days since its launch, the tune has hit Quantity One on the iTunes Nation charts and has racked up over 17million views on YouTube, and has soared to Quantity One on Apple Music’s World Music Charts.

In a press release, Anthony has mentioned he received’t rush into signing a file deal although, and has turned down a number of gives.

“People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers,” he wrote on Fb. “I don’t want six tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight.”

It has been tough as I flick thru the 50,000+ messages and emails I’ve acquired within the final week. The tales that…

Posted by Oliver Anthony Music on Thursday, August 17, 2023

He continued: “I wrote the music I wrote as a result of I used to be struggling with psychological well being and melancholy. These songs have related with hundreds of thousands of individuals on such a deep degree as a result of they’re being sung by somebody feeling the phrases within the very second they had been being sung. No enhancing, no agent, no bullshit.

“Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.”

Right here’s all the things we all know concerning the singer and why he has been stirring up controversy.

Who’s Oliver Anthony?

Anthony is a former manufacturing unit employee and farmer, who then determined to turn into a rustic singer.

“There’s nothing special about me,” he not too long ago wrote on Fb. “I’m not an excellent musician, I’m not an excellent individual. I’ve spent the final 5 years battling psychological well being and utilizing alcohol to drown it.

“I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other. I have spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the greatest country on Earth is quickly fading away.”

Final weekend (August 13), he held his first public live performance for the reason that viral consideration for his tune, and appeared to attract an enormous crowd to the North Carolina gig.

In a current tweet, the singer mentioned he was “in a state of shock at the outpouring of love I’ve seen in the comments, messages and emails”.

Why is Oliver Anthony controversial?

Upon its launch, ‘Rich Kid North Of Richmond’ has been praised on social media by right-wing media figures together with Dan Bongino and Matt Walsh. Republication consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, in the meantime, described it as “the anthem of the forgotten Americans who truly support this nation and unfortunately the world”.

The monitor has additionally been criticised for being “fatphobic” and labelled a “right-wing anthem”.

At first pay attention the tune could possibly be interpreted as a working class anthem, as he sings of “sellin’ my soul” for “bullshit pay“. He also lambasts politicians and the “rich men north of Richmond” who “simply wanna have whole management“.

The tune raises societal issues like homelessness and the nation’s psychological well being disaster, but in addition sees Anthony punch down on the “obese milkin’ welfare“, singing that that “if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.”

Elsewhere, The Guardian so it was “no surprise” that the proper wing loves it, whereas The Unbiased requested if “Republican anthems have to be as terrible as Oliver Anthony’s viral hit ‘Rich Men North of Richmond?”