‘Fool’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

Thomas Rhett kicks off his keenly awaited 2024 studio album, About a Woman, with ’Fool’, a light-hearted, uptempo offering that sets the tone for the sweet, lovestruck project.

The track finds the Georgia singer-songwriter crooning warmly about how dizzyingly in love he is with his wife of over ten years, Lauren, underlining that - just in case any listeners were in doubt - the title of the record is accurate, with Thomas Rhett spending much of the project endearingly professing his adoration for his partner.

Throughout ‘Fool’, Thomas Rhett returns to the outward-facing, pop-infused sound that lit up his earlier projects, such as Tangled Up and Center Point Road. With the help of Sabrina Carpenter and Teddy Swims super-producer, Julian Bunetta, Rhett captures the euphoria of the lyrics in the bright, beat-driven instrumental, which is given an additional boost of levity through the playful, rhythmic whistling.

“Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words and my two left boots

You stay on my brain like your name’s tattooed

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth”

The meaning behind ’Fool’ is kept simple and sweet, with Thomas Rhett repeatedly underlining how madly in love with his wife he is. His adulation leaves him tongue-tied and tripping over himself, as though he has ‘two left boots’. TR can't stop thinking about Lauren, who's imprinted on his brain as permanently as a tattoo.

“I’m a fool on this barstool

Baby, where you tryna go and can we carpool?

You got that quicksand I'm tryna fall through

Girl every part of me you know that’s all you”

Rhett inventively portrays her love as being ‘quicksand’ that he gladly drowns in, underlining how he loses himself in his adoration, before describing himself as being wholly Lauren's.

“Baby, I’m, I’m addicted to your lovin’ need a hit right now

Yeah tonight, I could use a little something from your lips right now”

The ‘T-Shirt’ hitmaker compares his love for his wife as ‘an addiction’, before stressing that he's jonesin’ for another hit of affection, as Thomas Rhett begs Lauren for another kiss.

“Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words in my two left boots

Catch a hot grenade if you ask me to

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth”

Here, Thomas Rhett flips the initial hook slightly as he replaces the line “You stay on my brain like your name’s tattooed” with “Catch a hot grenade if you ask me too”. This elevates the sense of devotion that TR laces into ‘Fool’, as he underlines that he'd willingly die for Lauren by catching a live grenade if it meant saving her life.

“I’m a fool yeah baby, I’m a psycho

If there’s only room for one of us, you get the lifeboat

I mean, just look at you baby you drive this country boy crazy

If loving you was a crime just throw the book at me, baby”

We get what appears to be a nice little nod to Titanic, as Thomas Rhett confirms he'd willingly jump off the lifeboat or the last raft in order to make room for his wife. He adds another layer by outlining that, even if it was judged to be a criminal offence to be in love with Lauren, it wouldn't stop him and he'd gladly take the punishment.

“You been mine since 2010 and

My heart still beats a mile a minute

Nothing’s changed I'm still stuck right in the palm of your hand, yeah”

Heartwarmingly, although they didn't get together until 2010 and married a couple of years later, Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins have known each other since the first-grade. The duo attended the same elementary school in Nashville, before reconnecting later in life and deciding to tie the knot when they were 22. TR highlights how, despite having been romantically involved for the best part of 14 years, his heart still flutters today in the same way it did when they met.

Thomas Rhett hasn't delved into the creation of ‘Fool’ specifically, but in an interview with Holler, the 2020 CMA Entertainer of the Year revealed how his mentality when crafting About a Woman was starkly different 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 touchingly emphasised how he ensured 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’”.

“Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words and my two left boots

You stay on my brain like your name’s tattooed

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth

-

I’m a fool on this barstool

Baby, where you tryna go and can we carpool?

You got that quicksand I'm tryna fall through

Girl every part of me you know that’s all you

-

Baby, I’m, I’m addicted to your lovin’ need a hit right now

Yeah tonight, I could use a little something from your lips right now

-

Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words in my two left boots

Catch a hot grenade if you ask me to

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth

-

I’m a fool for you and only you, yeah

Yeah, baby, I’m a fool for you and only you, yeah

-

I’m a fool yeah baby, I’m a psycho

If there’s only room for one of us, you get the lifeboat

I mean, just look at you baby you drive this country boy crazy

If loving you was a crime just throw the book at me, baby

-

I’m, I’m addicted to your lovin’ need a hit right now

Yeah tonight, I could use a little something from your lips right now

-

Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words in my two left boots

You stay on my brain like your name’s tattooed

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth

-

I’m a fool for you and only you, yeah yeah

Baby, I’m a fool for you and only you

-

You been mine since 2010 and

My heart still beats a mile a minute

Nothing’s changed I'm still stuck right in the palm of your hand, yeah

-

Baby, I’m a fool for you

Trippin’ over words in my two left boots

Catch a hot grenade if you ask me to

Tryna play it cool, but I ain’t that smooth

-

I’m a fool for you and only you, yeah yeah

Baby, I’m a fool for you and only you girl”

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