With twenty-one hit songs on Country radio in the last 20 years, Thomas Rhett is clearly doing something right. But even for big time Country stars, the grass is always greener on the other side.
LISTEN NOW: Thomas Rhett explains why he’s most envious of Dierks Bentley
Making clear he’s more than proud and grateful to celebrate his own accomplished career, Rhett said there is one fellow Country star who has a career he remains envious of.
“I look at Dierks Bentley as like, the most envious career path of anyone in our genre,” Rhett told Rob + Holly. “It’s just been slowly this [growth] the whole way. There was never this [major highs or lows], it was always [steady] and I feel like that just doesn’t happen anymore… Dierks was the model child of what an awesome, 30-year Country career looks like, personally.”
Bringing his focus back to his own accomplishments, Rhett reflected on his #1 songs saying he’s forever grateful things worked out for him after he struggled getting past #15 with his first two singles.
“My first two singles died at 15 on the chart and I thought that was what my career was going to be — just a bunch of songs that died at 15,” he laughed. “When you have two in a row that do the same thing, I was just like, ‘maybe this is God, maybe there’s a significance in the number 15 that I need to like, go deeper on.’”
Looking back, Thomas realizes the message was just to keep going as it was his third release, “It Goes Like This,” that finally broke the curse. Due to it being his first #1, Rhett calls “It Goes Like This” his most meaningful #1 while labeling “Crash and Burn” as his wife, Lauren’s favorite and “Life Changes” as the most surprising.
“It felt just super not Country radio friendly,” Thomas said of “Life Changes” which appeared on his 2017 album of the same name. “Very, very detailed, very, very personal — it said the word Uganda in it — nothing really added up to be like, ‘this is radio magic.’”
As the last 10 years have been been a whirlwind for Thomas and his family, he says he’s now looking forward to celebrating all his success with some time off. “I’m taking a real break,” he said. “Not releasing any new music until next year — I just want to take a real — at least a couple months of a breath — and then come back…. I call it my 10 year, three month break.”
That break is well-deserved for Thomas if you ask us, and while we hope enjoys his time away with his family — we look forward to what he’ll bring us in the next 10 years. We know it’s going to be good!
Hear more from Thomas Rhett about his #1’s, what he sees for his future and more by checking out his full conversation with Audacy’s Rob + Holly above.