Thomas Rhett: An Irresistable Country Music Sweetheart

Thomas Rhett is a popular country music artist who reflects positivity through his upbeat pop-country music. He was born in Georgia in 1990 to a family of four. His father, Rhett Akins, is also a prominent country singer who influenced Thomas at a young age. He attended Lipscomb University in Nashville but dropped out at age twenty to pursue his music career. His musical career would have not been possible, or at least certainly delayed, if he had not made this bold and unique decision. His father famously describes Thomas as a trendsetter: “He doesn’t do the norm. Everything he does scares the daylights out of me.”

Thomas Rhett unknowingly gained much of his musical experience and inspiration from his childhood. Thomas referred to his singing talent as a mere hobby. He often performed in the Church choir, at talent shows, and with cover bands, but never tried to expand his talent. Considering his father was also a famous singer, he would often accompany him on tour, attend his performances and take notes. Rhett notes that looking back on this stage of his childhood unconsciously strengthened his passion for music at a young age and would serve to inspire his decision to become a musical artist in the future. Furthermore, an extremely distinguishable trait in Thomas Rhett’s songwriting that is not seen in many others is the inclusion of personal experiences. In 2015, he composed a song called “Die A Happy Man,” about his kindergarten crush and current wife Lauren. This song contained Rhett’s true thoughts and feelings about his wife and expressed the content he feels with her constantly. Similarly, in 2017, Rhett released a song called “Life Changes” in which he personally reveals that he dropped out of college and acknowledges the blessings of his daughters Willa Gray and Ada James.

Rhett writes many songs about his experiences throughout life, so many that a multitude of them are not produced or recorded. Thomas Rhett feels no guilt about writing lyrics about the positivity in his life and never considers the lack of production to be a failure. In fact, he expresses an optimistic view amongst this failure by stating that “the more songs you write, the more you learn about yourself. A good portion of them has gotta stick.” He believes that passion and consistency, even through failure or hard times is the secret to having a generally successful career.

Another notable contribution to Thomas Rhett’s style of music is his relationship with his father. Thomas Rhett and Rhett Akins have collaborated in writing many songs together. This includes “Get Me Some of That” and “It Goes Like This.” However, Rhett Akins has mostly influenced his son’s style of music. Thomas Rhett states that growing up, his father listened to an array of music, including hits from the seventies, eighties, country music, and classic rock. Rhett was unknowingly influenced by these many genres and uses this diversity to avoid creating one-dimensional music. Due to this exposure to different realms of creativity within the music sector, Thomas Rhett incorporates old country music traditions by using deep emotional experiences while instrumentally creating a more pop-like background to produce an upbeat, cheerful tune. This sense of collaboration, whether with other music genres, his father, or other music artists highlights the talent in which Thomas Rhett intricately combines to make emotional, positive, and pleasing music.

Sources: https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/a_conversation_with_rhett_akins_and_thomas_rhett https://www.biography.com/musician/thomas-rhett https://theboot.com/thomas-rhett-songwriting-team-la-nashville/