“Write what you know,” the old saying goes, and nobody takes that more seriously than Thomas Rhett: He’s known for writing songs so autobiographical that they mention his wife and daughters by name.
After welcoming baby Lillie Caroline last month, Thomas now has four kids aged six and under at home, so he has plenty of material to draw from when he’s writing songs about parenthood and family. The singer debuted one such song on Instagram this week, singing and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.
“It’s 5 a.m. and they’re tugging on the covers / You and me baby, looking at each other like / Whose turn is it this time? / Well, I guess it’s mine,” Thomas sings, looking off-camera as the sound of one of his toddler’s voices grows in intensity.
Appropriately, Thomas’ song about toughing out the more grueling parts of parenthood while simultaneously trying to soak up every moment got interrupted by his real-life “tornado in the living room,” in the form of one of his four daughters.
“One needs a nap,” he sings pointedly, nodding at the chaos going on offscreen, “And the other needs a changin’…I pick her up, put her on my shoulder / Better hold her while she lets me hold her.”
In a mix of comedic timing and tear-jerking tenderness, Thomas sums up the young parents’ plight in his new song. He didn’t share any more details about it, or whether it’ll be on either of the two albums he’s got planned for 2022.
His first project of the new year, Where We Started, is due out first; its lead single is “Slow Down Summer.” Later on, in the fall, Thomas will release Country Again: Side B.
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