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Thelma & James - the new duo comprising MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge - have followed up their immensely popular debut single, ‘Happy Ever After You’, with a tantalising snippet of another stellar unreleased offering, titled, ‘First Love’.
When the husband-and-wife duo joined forces for the beautifully intricate ‘Happy Ever After You’ earlier in January, which marked the first song they'd penned together in over ten years, some skeptics wondered if this viral hit would be a flash in the pan.
However, Thelma & James’ brand new unreleased track, ’First Love’, ensures there can be no doubt that this duo is here to stay, with Porter and Etheridge's stunning harmonies combining with the sparse, gentle guitar riff to bring the evocative lyrics to life.
Like ’Happy Ever After You’, ‘First Love’ once again pivots around a wonderfully inventive play on words, with MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge candidly reflecting on their previous relationships, before looking far into the future, “You're not the first ‘I love you’ that I've said or I've been told / But you're the first that has me getting scared of getting old / Yeah, it's the first time I'm pretty sure I'd rather die than give you up / When we're in our ‘80's, I hope He takes my first, love”.
While ‘First Love’ captures the same delicacy and pared-down atmosphere that permeates ’Happy Ever After You’, it endearingly finds Porter and Etheridge exploring a warmer, more lovestruck narrative. In some ways, ’First Love’ could be viewed as the sequel or conclusion to the will-they-won't-they story of ‘Happy Ever After You’.
In her caption, MacKenzie Porter has offered fans an insight into the inspiration behind the new track, quipping, “Some days I could kill him ;) but most days I wanna die first”.
‘First Love’ gives us all the more reason to be excited ahead of Thelma & James’ debut full-length album, which is expected to arrive later in 2025, with the duo's sumptuously stripped-back sound serving as the perfect intersection between MacKenzie Porter's Nashvillian songwriting style and Jake Etheridge's folk-leaning ambience.
We'll be keenly awaiting news of a release date for ‘First Love’, but much like ‘Happy Ever After You’, fans and fellow artists alike are already clamouring for Thelma & James to drop the track. Luke Combs - who was one of the first to champion ‘Happy Ever After You’ - has returned to Thelma & James’ comments section to gush, ‘ANOTHA ONE’, while Avery Anna has echoed his sentiments, sharing, “I’m officially Thelma & James’s biggest fan”. Carly Pearce has praised the new snippet too, commenting, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME”, with the likes of Abby Anderson, RaeLynn, Nicolle Galyon, Brett Kissel and more also celebrating Porter and Etheridge's captivating new project. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed this reaction means we'll be getting the full version of ’First Love’ before too long.
For the full lyrics so far to Thelma & James’ ’First Love’, see below:
“There's creamer on the counter and there's coffee on the stove
You take a real short shower so the water don't run cold
You crank up the car and scrape the windshield when it snows
I out-kicked my coverage and it's weird you don't think so
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You're not the first ‘I love you’ that I've said or I've been told
But you're the first that has me getting scared of getting old
Yeah, it's the first time I'm pretty sure I'd rather die than give you up
When we're in our ‘80's, I hope He takes me first, love”
For more on Thelma & James, see below:
