Thomas Rhett - Life Changes Album Review
Life Changes is the perfect album name for Thomas Rhett's new album considering that in only 3 months he and his wife, Lauren, went from a family of two to a family of four when they adopted Willa Grey from Uganda and had a baby of their own named Ada James. It’s safe to say the singer had to figure out how to become a father of two daughters fast! All the ups, downs and happy moments of starting a family and embracing his new life changes are showcased in his third studio album.
Since his breakout album It Goes Like This debuted in 2013 and his sophomore album Tangled Up released in 2015, the country singer has always blended sounds of other genres of music such as R&B, pop and rock into his songs to create borderline country albums. Life Changes followed that same pattern and even featured an EDM sounding song, which is as far out of the country genre as you can get.
The 14-track album has a mix of sounds that range from your typical country with acoustic guitars and fiddles, to rock and roll electric-guitar solos, to hip-hop beats that make the songs on Life Changes sound more suited for Top 40 radio then country. But it’s working for him. Rhett has found himself to be a country-pop singer with one of his many successes winning song of the year at the 2017 Academy of Country Music Awards for “Die A Happy Man.”
But if fans are hoping for a “Die A Happy Man” part 2, they’ll be disappointed. “Marry Me” is the closest they’ll get with its slower acoustic ballad sound. But make no mistake, this is not another love song to his wife that Rhett is known for, it’s a sad song about a man watching the girl of his dreams marry someone else. Don’t worry, there are plenty of cute and fun love songs on the album such as “Unforgettable,” the bubblegum-pop sounding song Rhett wrote about the unforgettable night he had when he first met his future wife Lauren. He sings about remembering the smell of her perfume and that Mang-o-Rita she was drinking.
“Craving You,” the energized rock-sounding song kicks off the album and it was also the first single off the album. It gave him his 8th number one hit with the help of fellow country singer Maren Morris being featured on it. That isn’t the only song on the album that has a feature. “Drink A Little Beer” is your cliché, redneck bro-country song that you will hear being played at a bonfire or tailgate as everyone drinks a little beer. The cool thing about this song, though, is that it features his dad, Rhett Akins, who is also a country singer and songwriter. It’s a cute father-son moment of Thomas following in his dad's footsteps.
Rhett then throws us a complete 360 with “Leave Right Now,” the EDM sounding song that starts out with just the strum of an acoustic guitar until the build-up to the chorus when the beat drops and it starts sounding more like a Chainsmokers song. He then takes us back to the 1970’s with an R&B sexy sounding song “Kiss Me Like A Stranger,” but he isn’t done taking us back in time yet. “Sweetheart” is a cute song written for his wife of course and it has a 1950’s doo-wop sound in the chorus that is pretty catchy. “Smooth Like The Summer” is the most pop sounding song on the album that would have had high chances of being the song of the summer if it were released a few months ago, but has high hopes of becoming 2018’s song of the summer.
The most personal song on the album that is sure to bring a smile to your face is “Life Changes.” Rhett paints a picture of how much his life has changed, starting the song off by reflecting back to his college days where he was majoring in undecided and writing bad songs he thought no one would hear, then jumping to when he was 22 and getting married. He references his smash hit “Die A Happy Man,” ending the second verse by singing, “I wrote a little song about holding her hand, now everybody wanna die happy, man.” Fast forward to his current life reflected in the song's bridge, “I remember the day I told my daddy and mama you're gonna have a grand-kid, yep from Uganda, that's right, we're adopting and she is the cutest little girl that you've ever seen. Well I was wrapping my head around being a dad a bigger wrench got thrown in the plans we thought we'd had. Now Lauren's showing, got one on the way, yeah that's two under two, hey, what can I say?” Rhett seems like a proud father excited to raise his two daughters with Lauren by his side.
Life Changes is definitely not a sonically cohesive album with no two songs being the same, but its diversity is part of Rhett’s huge success and how he has created his own sound.
In the title track, Rhett ends the chorus saying, “Life changes, and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” and why would he want to? At 27-years old he’s become a leading man in country music, headlining tour dates, winning song of the year, married to the woman of his dreams, father of two and his latest album is on a fast course to become the first number one country album on Billboard's Top 200 chart this year. It’s safe to say he’s made it and we’ll be hearing a lot more from him.
Rating: 7/10
Lauren Smith is a senior majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact her, email lks5244@psu.edu.
