‘Don't Wanna Dance’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

One of the biggest surprises on Thomas Rhett's 2024 studio album, About a Woman, ‘Don't Wanna Dance’ finds the ‘T-Shirt’ hitmaker keeping fans on their toes by interpolating Whitney Houston's 1987 disco classic, ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.

This inventive choice epitomises the freedom with which TR approached his seventh record, with the Georgia singer-songwriter speaking to Holler in the lead-up to its release about how he stopped worrying about the outside noise for this project.

Co-written by Rhett alongside Matt Dragstrem, Ryan Hurd, George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, ‘Don't Wanna Dance’ originated with Hurd sending TR a demo simply titled, ‘Whitney’.

‘Don't Wanna Dance’ pivots around Whitney Houston's iconic track, ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, with Thomas Rhett flipping the lyrics to transform this into a witty heartbreak track. The emotion of ‘Don't Wanna Dance’ is intensified through the atmospheric production, the emphatic drum pattern and TR's captivating, layered vocals.

“My friends called me up

Said it’s been three months

It’s time to start moving on

So, I showed up

And they handed me a cup

I'm tryin’, but it just feels wrong”

Thomas Rhett opens ’Don't Wanna Dance’ in the aftermath of a particularly agonising break-up, with his buddies encouraging him to get back out there and head to the local bar.

“‘Cause now they’re playing our song, took ‘em all night long

But it just makes me wanna leave

‘Tween the memories and the whiskey

I just wanna be with somebody who loves me”

However, towards the end of the night, things take a turn as the DJ plays a song that held a special meaning for him and his ex - presumably ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.

“I don’t wanna dance with somebody

I don’t wanna be at this party

‘Cause every sip from this drink makes me think about you

What am I supposed to do?

Baby, I just kinda wish you would call me

Out of the blue just say that you want me

‘Cause I don't wanna dance with somebody

If that somebody ain’t you”

Instead of singing the original lyric, “I wanna dance with somebody”, Thomas Rhett switches it up and croons longinly, “I don't wanna dance with somebody / If that somebody ain't you”. The nostalgic song and the alcohol are combining to make him miss his old flame more than ever, with the protagonist confessing he just wants her to call.

“Standing here on the wall, I remember it all

Spinnin’ you around like a disco ball

If I was holdin’ someone new, I’d just pretend that she was you

She would see right through it, I can’t do this”

The narrator spends the rest of the evening glued to the wall, as he feels too melancholic to dance or try his luck with someone new. Instead, he replays the memories of being with his ex over and over again in his head, admitting that, even if he started a relationship with somebody else, they'd soon see that he was still in love with her.

In a 2024 interview with Billboard, Thomas Rhett endearingly revealed that ‘Don't Wanna Dance’ is already a big hit with his children, “[My] two oldest [daughters] are starting to form their own opinions on what they like. If they go to hip-hop class and a Luis Fonsi song comes on, that’s what they think is fire. Or they’ll hear kids at school talking about Luke Combs or Morgan Wallen. When it comes to my music, they’ve become a little bit of my little A&R team. On the way to school, I’m playing a new demo and I’m watching if they start moving or if they’re asking to hear it again. So in a way, they influence a lot of the music. They can point out a bop. They love ‘Gone Country,’ ‘Back to Blue’ and ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’”.

TR explained how this was an especially different track to put together, “It was not an easy feat… when you’re about to put arguably [one of] the most-listened and covered songs ever in one of our songs, and by one of the most amazing voices to ever live on this planet...I was driving down Music Row and heard it, and when that chorus came on I was like, ‘I can’t not try this’. It’s heartbreak, but it also makes you want to punch a hole through a wall, because you’re so jacked about the melody”.

“My friends called me up

Said it’s been three months

It’s time to start moving on

So, I showed up

And they handed me a cup

I'm tryin’, but it just feels wrong

-

‘Cause now they’re playing our song, took ‘em all night long

But it just makes me wanna leave

‘Tween the memories and the whiskey

I just wanna be with somebody who loves me

-

I don’t wanna dance with somebody

I don’t wanna be at this party

‘Cause every sip from this drink makes me think about you

What am I supposed to do?

Baby, I just kinda wish you would call me

Out of the blue just say that you want me

‘Cause I don't wanna dance with somebody

If that somebody ain’t you

-

Standing here on the wall, I remember it all

Spinnin’ you around like a disco ball

-

If I was holdin’ someone new, I’d just pretend that she was you

She would see right through it, I can’t do this

-

I don’t wanna dance with somebody

I don’t wanna be at this party

‘Cause every sip from this drink makes me think about you

What am I supposed to do?

Baby, I just kinda wish you would call me

Out of the blue just say that you want me

‘Cause I don't wanna dance with somebody

If that somebody ain’t you

Somebody ain’t you

-

‘Tween the memory and the whiskey

I just wanna be with somebody who loves me

-

I don’t wanna dance with somebody, not just anybody

-

I don’t wanna dance with somebody

I don’t wanna be at this party

‘Cause every sip from this drink makes me think about you

What am I supposed to do?

Baby, I just kinda wish you would call me

Out of the blue just say that you want me

‘Cause I don't wanna dance with somebody

If that somebody ain’t you

-

Somebody ain’t you, yeah

No, if that somebody ain’t you

That somebody ain’t you”

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