Thomas Rhett Previews New Album With ‘Slow Down Summer’
The epic new young-love anthem leads his sixth album, 'Where We Started.'
Thomas Rhett tells an epic story of young love and time slipping away in the new track, “Slow Down Summer,” and the country star has used it to share some big news. Out Friday (November 5), the song marks the beginning of an unexpected musical chapter.
Featuring a romantic pulse that thumps like a heartbeat, and a modern-classic presentation with a 14-piece string section, the track feels like an epic country odyssey of youthful passion. The bittersweet storyline describes two lovers locked in a summer they’ll never forget — but knowing all too well their time together will soon end.
“I wrote this song from the point of view of two people who are in love during senior year of high school,” says Thomas Rhett, who co-wrote the tune with Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure, Sean Douglas and his father, Rhett Akins. “I envisioned them headed off to different schools and they’re starting to understand that the moment the weather starts to change, they’ve got a 99-percent chance this relationship is not going to work. I know that myself and a lot of people have been there before, wishing the fireworks stage doesn’t have to end.”
The new track arrives as a surprise for fans following TR’s 18th Number One, “Country Again,” because it apparently marks the beginning of a new album cycle. Thomas Rhett has just announced sixth studio album, titled Where We Started, which set to arrive in “early 2022″ — but that’s not all.
Thomas Rhett’s most recent album was the reflective, pandemic-written-and-recorded, Country Again Side A, and the star now says Country Again Side B will arrive later in 2022, just after Where We Started. He had originally expected to release it next, but says in a video on Instagram that his return to the stage inspired a new plan.
Thomas Rhett returned to the road with his Center Point Road Tour this past summer, and is now up for Male Vocalist of the Year at the upcoming 55th annual CMA Awards, where he will also perform. The show takes place in Nashville at the Bridgestone Arena on November 10, and will air live at 8/7c on ABC.
