Dolly Parton’s New ‘5 To 9’ Super Bowl Commercial Is Rubbing People The Wrong Way

Dolly Parton has a catalog full of classic songs and one of the most recognizable is “9 To 5,” which has become a workers’ anthem over the years. On the chorus of the iconic tune, she sings, “Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living / Barely gettin’ by, it’s all taking and no giving / They just use your mind and you never get the credit / It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.” With all that in mind, people are disappointed in Parton’s new Super Bowl commercial for SquareSpace.

For the ad, Parton re-worked “9 To 5” into a new version called “5 To 9,” which is meant to honor the side hustle. Parton said of the ad, “Well I work 365 [days a year]. I’m always working 5 to 9, 9 to 5. I work all hours of the night and day. Whatever you need to do, you gotta get it done, however many hours it takes.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4FYL8twE6Q

That said, since the original song touches on themes of being overworked, it seems to some the new song betrays the point of the original. As one Twitter user wrote, “Dolly Parton’s now made a version of her ‘9 to 5’ song for an ad celebrating… side hustles. Great, we can now all work ‘5 to 9’ on top of the other eight hours.” Somebody else added, “Dolly should not have made that 5 to 9 song for SquareSpace. The original song was to complain about the overwhelming burden of work. This contravenes that by glorifying this ‘work is a virtue, you have to hustle’ narrative.”

https://twitter.com/irinibus/status/1356651761893847040

Those tweets echo a lot of other reactions people online are having, so check out some more responses to the ad below, and check out the commercial above.

https://twitter.com/hilmonstah/status/1356624345754447874

https://twitter.com/KevinMalogna/status/1356606253162786819

https://twitter.com/iusedtobepoor/status/1356661194766000129