‘Back To Blue’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

Appearing on Thomas Rhett's seventh studio album, About a Woman, ‘Back To Blue’ doubles-down on the warm, rose-tinted portrayal of love that permeates the entire project.

This track epitomises TR's keenness to experiment with a refreshingly eclectic melting pot of genres, with the Georgia singer-songwriter infusing trap-inspired sonics into the infectious hook. Although not chosen as one of the lead singles ahead of the arrival of About a Woman on August 23rd, 2024, ‘Back To Blue’ is quickly cementing itself as one of the many stand-outs on Rhett's stellar record.

‘Back To Blue’ finds Thomas Rhett returning to the uptempo, R&B-tinged sound that pervaded his earlier material, such as Tangled Up, Life Changes and Center Point Road.

Thomas Rhett's charismatic, evocative vocals collide with an electric, 808-fuelled instrumental that draws from trap. The addition of the rhythmic clicks and caffeinated guitar riff ensures ‘Back To Blue’ is elevated into a swaggering, energising anthem.

“We got the moon, we got the stars

Aw, baby, it’s my favorite kind of bar

I hear the crickets, wind in the trees

Yeah, they’re probably talkin’ ‘bout you and me”

Thomas Rhett sets the scene throughout the opening two verses, with the ‘What's Your Country Song’ hitmaker painting a bucolic picture of him and his wife, Lauren, spreading out a blanket and spending the night peacefully watching the stars together.

He notices how, because of their stillness and serenity, they're able to hear the crickets and even the trees, joking that “they're probably talking ‘bout you and me”. This tongue-in-cheek line accentuates the feeling that they're in their own blissful, secluded world.

“You got your flannel, I got my boots

I got a guitar, you got your moves

You said play me every single song you know

And we got nowhere else to be so here we go”

We get a couple of country staples ticked off here, as Thomas Rhett confirms they're adorned in flannel and boots, with TR even serenading Lauren with a few tunes with his guitar. He creates the feeling they're outside of time, with Lauren pleading with him to “play me every single song you know” because they've got nowhere to be.

“Pour us up another couple shots of whiskey

Somethin’ ‘bout the way the moonlight is hittin’

Your blonde hair and green eyes

Yeah, I could do this all night

Throw another log on that fire with me

Ain’t no one around us for miles

So, we can stay as long as we want to

And watch the sky go from black back to blue, yeah”

Throughout the pastorally coloured hook, Thomas Rhett adds more detail into the rural, beatific imagery of the two lovers spending the night outside. He then reaches the titular lyric, which emphasises the idea that they'll be staying here for as long as possible - until the sun begins to inch over the horizon, turning the sky “back to blue”.

“You got a hand I wanna hold

I got a cold beer bottle microphone

Yeah, if you keep on crackin’ ‘em baby

I keep on drinking ‘em

You keep on singing ‘em, baby

I keep on playing ‘em, baby”

TR playfully references how he's going to sing to Lauren throughout the night, by describing his “cold beer bottle microphone”, again highlighting the levity and romance of the night.

Endearingly, Lauren decides to join in with the singing here, with Thomas Rhett begging her to keep singing for as long as she wants to, before launching into another hook.

Thomas Rhett hasn't delved into the specifics as to how ‘Back To Blue’ came about, but in an interview with Holler in the lead-up to releasing his 2024 album, the ‘Look What God Gave Her’ crooner revealed how his outlook when crafting About a Woman was notably different compared to that of his previous two albums.

TR explained, “When I think of this project, I keep thinking of the word ‘Freedom’. Not to dive super deep here, but...2019 was the last year that I felt that sort of freedom of just, ‘Man, whatever I'm feeling, I'm just gonna say, whatever feels good I'm just gonna write, whatever sounds good, that's what gonna go on the record’. I think COVID did a number on all of us, but for me, I think being so secluded and not being able to get that instant feedback from fans by constantly being on the road - I love playing new songs on the road to kind of feel, “Is this song vibing, is this song not vibing”. And so I made a couple of records that I'm for sure proud of, but I think those records were...‘Fear’ is not the right word either, but they were made from not a free place, if that makes any sense”.

Thomas Rhett excitedly reflected on how he made sure joy was at the heart of About a Woman, “So somewhere around the beginning of last year, I started having conversations with the guy who actually produced this whole next record, Julian Bunetta, who I've been friends with forever and he produced all the One Direction stuff, just recently produced the whole Sabrina Carpenter record, and produced the whole new Teddy Swims project, so he's had this big resurgence. He looked at me and was like, ’Man, it'd been six years I had a hit, and I just kept coming back and kept coming back and kept coming back, because I love it’. And he was like, ‘How much do you love this?’ That was a very pivotal question for me, because I was like, ‘Man, I love it more than most things in the world. Minus my family, music is what I live and breathe’. He was like, ‘Well, lets write from that part, rather than from the part of, ‘Well what if and what if and what if’”.

“We got the moon, we got the stars

Aw, baby, it’s my favorite kind of bar

I hear the crickets, wind in the trees

Yeah, they’re probably talkin’ ‘bout you and me

-

You got your flannel, I got my boots

I got a guitar, you got your moves

You said play me every single song you know

And we got nowhere else to be so here we go

-

Pour us up another couple shots of whiskey

Somethin’ ‘bout the way the moonlight is hittin’

Your blonde hair and green eyes

Yeah, I could do this all night

Throw another log on that fire with me

Ain’t no one around us for miles

So, we can stay as long as we want to

And watch the sky go from black back to blue, yeah

-

You got a hand I wanna hold

I got a cold beer bottle microphone

Yeah, if you keep on crackin’ ‘em baby

I keep on drinking ‘em

You keep on singing ‘em, baby

I keep on playing ‘em, baby

-

Black back to blue

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

-

Pour us up another couple shots of whiskey

Something ‘bout the way the moonlight is hittin’

Your blonde hair and green eyes

Yeah, I could do this all night

Throw another log on that fire with me

Ain’t no one around us for miles

So, we can stay as long as we want to

And watch the sky go from black back to blue (go back go back go back)

Black back to blue (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Black back to blue (go back go back)

Black back to blue (I could do this all night)”

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