Thomas Rhett Opens up About ‘Favorite’ New Single, ‘Sixteen’

Thomas Rhett’s latest single, “Sixteen,” is one of his personal favorites. The song, written by Rhett along with Sean Douglas and Joe Spargur, is the fifth single from Rhett’s 2017 Life Changes record.

The song, which says, “What I wouldn’t give to be sixteen, wild and free / Cruisin’ up and down Main in my F-150 / Roll the windows down, bass too loud from this burned CD / I’ll be right where I wanna be when I’m sixteen, sixteen,” was a way for Rhett to reflect on how much he had already experienced in his relatively short life.

“‘Sixteen’ is just a song, I think it’s my favorite song on the record,” Rhett revealed. “It just takes me back to being 15 and dying to be 16. In your head you’re just going, ‘God, once I’m 16, the world will just be right.’ And then you get your truck and you drive around and you’re like, ‘All right, cool, now I really wish I could buy a lottery ticket legally, but I can’t.’ And so then you’re like ‘I can’t wait to be 18. The world will be better.’ And then it goes to 21 and I think every kid goes through that phase of always wanting to be a different age so that you can do certain things. And then you turn 21 and all you want to do is be 16 again.”

“And I think the song really recaps it in a way of just, now I’m 25 and I’m sitting at home with my wife and we laugh about how dumb we were when we dated and we were 16,” he continued. “And I just think the song, no matter if you’re 10 years old or you’re 80 years old, I think you can always find an identity within the verses and chorus.”

All of Rhett’s previous singles on Life Changes have landed at the top of the charts, part of a season of career highs Rhett still can’t quite believe.

“I feel like we have definitely come a long way in a couple of years,” said the singer. “This is our second year doing our headline arena tour, which I still can’t wrap my head around. And also getting a tour with Kenny Chesney this year playing football stadiums and baseball stadiums. That’s a pretty insane experience. Getting to watch a hero of mine who I’ve been following since I was ten years old, getting to watch him play for 60-some-odd thousand people, God has been so good to us.”

“It feels like every year gets cooler and every time we put a record out, I feel like I’m becoming a better writer, and a better showman, and a better singer,” he added. “Hopefully we’ll start doing some bigger and cooler stuff. But I’m very blessed where we’re at right now.”

Rhett is currently on his Life Changes Tour, with Midland and Brett Young serving as his opening acts. Find a list of all of Rhett’s upcoming shows by visiting his website. Download “Sixteen” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Christopher Polk