Thomas Rhett’s current single, “Look What God Gave Her,” is once again about his wife, Lauren Akins. But although Akins inspired the tune, Rhett reveals the song was already mostly written before he became a part of it.
“I was not a part of the original writing of the song,” Rhett told PopCulture.com and other media. “My producer, Julian Bunetta, and my dad [Rhett Akins], actually started the song, in Los Angeles, California. I was on the road; I was opening for Kenny Chesney last summer, and we were on a three-hour rain delay. Tequila was flowing, heavily, backstage. I remember [Big Machine label executive] George Briner was there with us, and my whole band and crew. We were kind of passing the phone back and forth, playing songs we had written, demos and stuff.
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“Julian said, ‘I wrote one with your dad a couple weeks ago, and I want to play it for you.’ He played me ‘Look What God Gave Her,’” he recalled. “I think after that, we played it like 35 more times in a row. Those are always the ones that stand out in my mind. Songs that grab your brain, melodically. Songs that give you a sweet sentiment. I knew that if I could hop onto the second verse, and add a bridge to it, then I knew that I could make it about my lovely wife. I’ve had a little bit of success writing love songs, so I thought that we should do one more.”
Akins knew as soon as he heard the finished product of “Look What God Gave Her,” that it was likely to become his seventh consecutive No. 1 hit.
“We recorded it in the studio, and had it mixed and mastered,” Rhett acknowledged. “It came out feeling like a slam dunk for me.”
“Look What God Gave Her” is the debut single from Rhett’s upcoming Center Point Road album, out on May 31. The album, Rhett promises, will be a nostalgic look back at the memories that shaped who is now.
“For me, Center Point Road really symbolizes what it was like to grow up in Hendersonville,” Rhett said of the record, referring to his Tennessee hometown. “First dates, first football games, first heartbreak, first kisses, success and failures. I really feel like that road shaped who I am today, and it felt fitting because the record, for the most part, is pretty nostalgic. Songs like ‘Almost,’ ‘That Old Truck’ and especially ‘Center Point Road,’ really describe who I was as a kid and teenager, and who I’ve become as an adult.”
Pre-order Center Point Road at ThomasRhett.com.
Photo Credit: Getty / Denise Truscello
