“Blake Shelton Reflects on His Iconic Mullet Phase and the Criticism That Ended It”
By Website Content Manager
“‘It felt like that era had already ended, and nobody bothered to tell me,’ Shelton told Bobby Bones.”
Back in 2001, Blake Shelton was still finding his footing in Nashville with the release of his debut single, “Austin.” But it wasn’t just his music that drew attention—his mullet quickly became a talking point. Now, the country star is reflecting on the hairstyle that defined his early years and what ultimately led him to cut it for good.
Shelton sported the mullet through much of his teenage years and into his early twenties. As his music career began to take off, opinions about his long, curly locks—which hung down the back while the front stayed shorter—started to surface.
Before Shelton’s rise, country stars like Tracy Lawrence, Alan Jackson, and Billy Ray Cyrus had famously rocked mullets, and the style even made a comeback in recent years thanks to artists like Morgan Wallen. But in 2001, when “Austin” was released, the mullet had largely fallen out of favor.
“Mullets are cool again now, I guess, but back then when I had mine, they weren’t. It was like that phase had already ended and nobody told me… Me and Neal McCoy were pretty much the only ones still sporting it,” Shelton joked to radio host Bobby Bones on Bobby Bones Presents: The BobbyCast, now streaming on Netflix.
While Shelton was focused on promoting his music and gaining radio play, he started facing criticism in Nashville—most notably from morning show host Carl P. Mayfield.
“He would play my song on his show and say, ‘there’s the worst new mullet in country music,’ whether I was on the show or just driving around,” Shelton recalled.
Rather than letting the criticism completely dictate his style, Shelton chose a compromise. He didn’t cut the mullet outright but instead grew the rest of his hair longer so it blended with the back, keeping his signature look while subtly responding to the critiques.
“I was stubborn enough to think, okay, I’m not cutting the mullet, but I’ll grow the rest of my hair out so they don’t win. That way, the mullet stays,” he said.
Shelton officially retired his long mullet in 2006, marking the end of a defining chapter in his early career. Since then, he’s stuck with shorter hairstyles, only revisiting the iconic look once in 2022 for the retro-themed music video for “No Body.”