Thomas Rhett Reveals How His Dad Influenced ‘Life Changes’

Thomas Rhett‘s recent single “Life Changes” is his most personal song to date, with the track referencing his time in school, life with wife Lauren Akins and the pair’s two daughters, Willa Gray and Ada James.

At a recent No. 1 party for the song, Rhett revealed that “Life Changes” was the very last song written for his album of the same name, with the star penning the tune with Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure and Rhett’s dad, Rhett Akins.

Having his dad help write the song, Rhett revealed, was “the coolest part.”

“Me and Dad have written one other number one song together, but this one is special because I got to tell that story through my eyes, and he also got to contribute to that song by saying ‘Well this is how I saw your life in college. This is how I saw your life in these other areas as the years went by,’” the singer explained. “It was really cool to get a perspective from your dad during the writing process.”

The father of two shared that “Life Changes” was written during “a big vent session.”

“Me and my wife were going through such a strange time just about a year ago, just from her being halfway across the country while I’m still in America, touring,” he said. “It was just a chaotic time as far as finishing the adoption process, and then finding out that Lauren was pregnant, and trying to tour, trying to write a record. It was just like, ‘How? How can I keep up this pace?’”

Rhett and his wife adopted Willa Gray from Uganda in May 2017 and Lauren gave birth to Ada James months later in August, with the family’s new additions ultimately making it into the song.

“I think, I can’t remember if it was my dad or Ashley, one of them said, ‘It was crazy how your life shifted so much in the last few years,’” Rhett recalled of the writing session. “We started talking about from the time I started my career to now, how much has actually changed. Somehow Ashley was on the piano, and we started writing verses as to, a little story line of college, to getting married, to now.”

Initially, Rhett didn’t even think “Life Changes” would make it to his album, let alone become a No. 1 single.

“When we wrote it we were like, ‘This is no good. This is never gonna make the album ever,’” he recalled. “I’m just glad we got it out of our system and wrote it down. At that point, I thought I wanted to make the record something different. ‘Life Changes’ just kept popping back up and people kept texting me going, ‘Do this song for your tour.’ It just kind of overwhelmingly hit me like, ‘Dude, this is gonna make your albums, then your tour.’ Probably will never be a single but if it is, awesome.”

Rhett said “Life Changes” is “one of the most special songs in my career because that song is a page out of a journal.”

“Really cool to see how that song was translated to fans, and the radio, and our live shows,” he added. “It’s just nuts.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Terry Wyatt