Thomas Rhett Shares Story Behind 19th No. 1 Song "Slow Down Summer"
It’s lucky number 19 for Thomas Rhett.
“Slow Down Summer” just became the singer’s 19th No. 1 hit and he celebrated the success with his family at the beach.
“Just feeling very grateful for everyone involved in the process,” Thomas Rhett wrote on social media. “The writers, producers, radio team, my family, country radio and most important YALL!!”
"Slow Down Summer" is Rhett’s 13th consecutive No. 1 hit and the debut single from his new, sixth studio album “Where We Started.” The singer-songwriter wrote the nostalgic ode to young love with his dad Rhett Akins, Sean Douglas, Jesse Frasure, and Ashley Gorley. He said they got the idea for the song on a writers' trip to Montana one October while watching leaves fall from the trees.
“We were half fly fishing and half trying to write songs,” Rhett said. “We didn’t really know what to write. I noticed the leaves were changing and someone said, ‘I wish summer would slow down.’ As a songwriter when you hear words like that, you think, ‘Maybe we should write that?’”
Rhett said the men tied the song to the common life experience of getting out of college and dating someone, knowing you’ve got three months to solidify a relationship or it’s not going to work.
“That happened to me,” Rhett revealed. “Getting out of high school I was dating a girl, and she went to a different college than me. Right when school started it was like, ‘We’re going different ways.’ I just hadn’t put a song out like that in a long time that had that tension of love in it, really since ‘Marry Me’ a couple of records ago. I love the sentiment of the song and I love the production. I thought it was a really cool first single for this record, and it’s been really cool seeing the reaction to it as well.”
Rhett also revealed his next single on Wednesday - "Half Of Me" featuring Riley Green. Written by Thomas Rhett, Rhett Akins, William Bundy and Josh Thompson, the lighthearted track is an ode to beer.
"Today is a really cool day," Rhett said in a statement. "I'm pretty blown away to be celebrating my 19th No. 1 with 'Slow Down Summer' and the release of my new single 'Half Of Me.' I wrote both of these songs with my dad, which is special to me, and several other truly incredible songwriters. I hope fans have as much fun singing along to 'Half Of Me' as we did writing it."
Green said he thought, “It’s going to be a fun beer-drinking song for the summer.”
"Slow Down Summer" and "Half Of Me" are the newest singles from Rhett's “Where We Started,” which is out now.
