Hear Rascal Flatts’ New Single, ‘How They Remember You’

After announcing a Farewell Tour in January, Rascal Flatts is back with a new single, officially debuting “How They Remember You” on Friday. The song was written by Marc Beeson, Josh Osborne and Allen Shamblin and is a reflection on how you live your life and how others will remember you. “Did you stand or did you fall? / Build a bridge or build a wall? / Hide your love or give it all?” the band sings in the chorus. “What did you do? / What did you do?”

Rascal Flatts member Jay DeMarcus told PopCulture.com and other media this week that he and bandmates Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney heard the song and felt like “the timing was perfect” to release it. “The message was perfect at this time and this crazy madness, and it really leaves to question with over a hundred thousand people dying of the coronavirus and all of that, it’s what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?” he said. “And that’s kind of what the song is about. I think timing wise, it’s just everything kind of lined up and felt like that was the one to go with.” Rooney said that he thinks the song is “an unbelievable lyric,” adding, “we’re blessed to be the ones to record that song.”

The band appeared on the Today show on Monday morning as part of the show’s Citi Music Series, performing “How They Remember You” in a pre-recorded performance from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Along with the new single, Rascal Flatts also performed “I Won’t Let Go,” from the band’s 2010 album Nothing Like This. “How They Remember You” is the lead single from the group’s upcoming EP of the same name, which will be released on July 31. The EP features previously unreleased songs, the new single and the trio’s cover of Kenny Rogers‘ “Through the Years.”

“Some really do harken back to kind of the good old days, if you will, of Rascal Flatts’ sound,” Rooney said of the songs on the EP. “It was just a really unique project to put together at this time when everything is shut down. It’s hard to really get a lot of people to be available to finish out some of the songs, so it was very much a lot of cut and paste and a piecemeal together project, but it sure has worked out really well and I’m really excited for the fans to hear this new music and especially the lead single.”