‘Boots’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

It's no secret that Thomas Rhett loves singing about boots almost - but not quite - as much as singing about his wife, Lauren. On ‘Boots’, taken from his 2024 studio album, About a Woman, he combines the two, underlining how Lauren much prefers him donning a pair of Tecovas or Luccheses rather than some Vans, Crocs, Nikes or even the viral and hilariously name-checked Golden Goose trainers.

‘Boots’ captures the playful, jubilant spirit that drives the vast majority of About a Woman, with Thomas Rhett delivering his charismatic croons across an unashamedly twangy country riff. Parts of the melody run in a similar vein to TR's Twisters: The Album single, ‘Feelin’ Country’, with ‘Boots’ cementing itself as a certified earworm.

“I got Nikes for the gym

Tevas for the beach

A couple pair of dusties that I’m really tryna keep

I might as well burn ‘em in a fire as high as the moon, yeah

I’m talkin’ high-top, flip-flop

Pair of camouflage Crocs, old-school checkered Vans

Closed toed Birkenstock

End of the day you know I gotta go to my go-tos, yeah”

Thomas Rhett rattles through a dizzying array of shoe types and brands, from his Nike gym trainers to his Teva beach sandals, as well as his beloved camo Crocs to his retro Van sneakers. However, they're no match for his favourite kind of footwear...

“‘Cause my baby likes me better in boots

When I get to slippin’ in ‘em with some denim ya’ll I can’t lose, whoa no

Wouldn’t be caught dead two steppin’ in designer shoes

‘Cause my baby likes it better in boots”

TR underlines - as he does on 2022's ‘Church Boots’ - that you simply can't beat some good ol’ country boots. He underlines that Lauren loves them just as much as he does, before laughing off the prospect of hitting up the local honky tonk in designer shoes.

“She like me better in

Snip toe, square toe, snakeskin

Toffee caiman belly coming up to my shin

Leather on the bottom

Lizard on the toe

Old brown goat color of a dirt road

Chocolate Lucchese

Full quill Tecova

Any of those or my daddy’s old Ropers”

Whatever the shape or style - such as snakeskin, lizard or caiman reptile - Thomas Rhett will wear it, with the ‘Angels’ hitmaker then tipping his cap to a few cowboy boot brands, Lucchese, Tecova and Roper, the latter of which his dad, Rhett Akins, seemingly prefers. Aptly, TR has previously collaborated with Tecovas for a boot range.

“Never know when my baby wanna go dancing

So, you know I always staying prepared

Somewhere in the backseat of my old Chevy

I always got a couple of extra pairs”

Thomas Rhett heartwarmingly confesses he always keeps a few spare pairs of boots in his beat-up old Chevrolet truck, just in case Lauren feels like going out for a night of dancing.

“‘Cause my baby likes me better in boots, woo

When I get to slippin’ in em with some denim ya’ll I can’t lose, whoa no

Wouldn’t be caught dead two steppin’ in no Golden Goose

‘Cause my baby likes me better in

My baby likes me better in

My baby likes me better in

Boots”

Here, TR adds in a cheeky reference to the notorious Golden Goose luxury trainer brand, which have become infamous due to their well-worn and ‘distressed’ appearance. He categorically states that you'll never see him doing the Texas two-step in them.

Thomas Rhett he hasn't yet delved into the specifics regarding the creative process behind ‘Boots’. In a 2024 interview with Holler, though, ahead of releasing seventh project, the Georgia crooner revealed how his outlook when crafting About a Woman was different compared to that of his previous two studio albums.

He 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 touchingly expanded 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’”.

“I got Nikes for the gym

Tevas for the beach

A couple pair of dusties that I’m really tryna keep

I might as well burn ‘em in a fire as high as the moon, yeah

-

I’m talkin’ high-top, flip-flop

Pair of camouflage Crocs, old-school checkered Vans

Closed toed Birkenstock

End of the day you know I gotta go to my go-tos, yeah

-

‘Cause my baby likes me better in boots

When I get to slippin’ in ‘em with some denim ya’ll I can’t lose, whoa no

Wouldn’t be caught dead two steppin’ in designer shoes

‘Cause my baby likes it better in boots

-

She like me better in

Snip toe, square toe, snakeskin

Toffee caiman belly coming up to my shin

Leather on the bottom

Lizard on the toe

Old brown goat color of a dirt road

-

Chocolate Lucchese

Full quill Tecova

Any of those or my daddy’s old Ropers

-

And my baby likes it better in boots, woo

When I get to slippin’ in em with some denim ya’ll I can’t lose, whoa no

Wouldn’t be caught dead two steppin’ in designer shoes, yeah

‘Cause my baby likes it better in

-

Boots

Boots

Boots

Boots

-

She do, she do, yeah she do

-

Never know when my baby wanna go dancing

So, you know I always staying prepared

Somewhere in the backseat of my old Chevy

I always got a couple of extra pairs

-

‘Cause my baby likes me better in boots, woo

When I get to slippin’ in em with some denim ya’ll I can’t lose, whoa no

Wouldn’t be caught dead two steppin’ in no Golden Goose

‘Cause my baby likes me better in

My baby likes me better in

My baby likes me better in

Boots”

For more on Thomas Rhett, see below: