‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’ by Thomas Rhett & Teddy Swims - Lyrics & Meaning

‘Somethin’ Bout a Woman’ serves as the keystone of Thomas Rhett's 2024 studio album, About a Woman, with the soulful, sultry offering finding TR channelling his inner-Stapleton as he delivers a bluesy, sashaying ode to his wife, Lauren Akins.

Arriving on August 23rd as part of the full record, the track is one of more stripped-back offerings on the album, but aligns with the overarching theme of devotion to the love of his life.

On November 15th, after a few hints and teasers, Thomas Rhett announced that he'd be releasing a revamped version of ’Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’ with his good buddy, Teddy Swims. TR and the ‘Lose Control’ hitmaker had joined forces back in 2020 for ‘Broke’, with Teddy Swims also collaborating with Thomas Rhett on ‘Angels (Don't Always Have Wings)’ as a co-writer. Additionally, About a Woman was produced by Julian Bunetta, who also worked extensively on Teddy Swims’ hugely popular 2024 record, I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1).

‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’ finds Thomas Rhett crooning adoringly across a swaggering, strutting instrumental. The simmering electric guitar and the undulating bass helping to build the soul-leaning, sensual atmosphere of the track, which strays from the comparatively pop-driven, R&B-infused ambience of the rest of the album.

The introduction of Teddy Swims’ signature rasp accentuates the romance of ‘Somethin’ Bout a Woman’, with Swims and Rhett's endearing friendship and chemistry radiating throughout.

“No, it ain’t the moon

Nah, it ain’t the band

Only one thing that’d make me do this kinda dance

Nah it ain’t this wine, that’s got me buzzin’

I’m flyin’ high, and it’s all because”

Thomas Rhett begins by underlining that the love he's feeling is not simply being cultivated due to the band or the romantic moon shining through the windows, nor is it a result of the wine. He stresses that he simply can't resist the charms of his wife.

“There’s somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout the way they bring ya to your knees

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman does somethin’ to me”

TR spends the infectious hook by underlining that there's something almost mystically alluring and unavoidably enticing about the charms of a woman - specifically, his wife, Lauren.

“Never used to beg

Never used to plead

Yeah, settling down just wasn’t for me

Wasn’t the type that would rush in

Thought I was good, but I wasn’t

Lord, I can’t even function now man”

He paints himself as a former wild child who never had grand designs of settling down and getting married, but ever since meeting Lauren, he was utterly captivated. Now, he can't even think straight as he begs and pleads her for a night of romance.

“Make your heart start to beat,

Make you sweat, make you dream

Lose your mind, lose your sleep

Pushin’ me, doin’ things I thought I couldn’t

Aw there’s just somethin’ ‘bout a woman”

Thomas Rhett continues with more ways in which his wife renders him helpless. He describes the ways in which her affection keeps him up all night and colours his dreams, before crediting her as pushing him to achieve things he never thought he could.

“There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

Somethin’ ‘bout the one that you sent to me”

Over the course of ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’, Thomas Rhett transitions from singing generally about ‘a woman’ to emphasising that he's referring solely to his wife. Towards the end of the track, TR expresses his gratitude to God for sending Lauren down to him.

Thomas Rhett hasn't yet delved into the specifics as to how ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’ came about, but in a 2024 interview with Holler before releasing the album named after this song, Rhett revealed how his outlook when crafting About a Woman was intentionally different compared to that of his previous two 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 inspiringly reflected on 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’”.

“No, it ain’t the moon

Nah, it ain’t the band

Only one thing that’d make me do this kinda dance

Nah it ain’t this wine, that’s got me buzzin’

I’m flyin’ high, and it’s all because

-

There’s somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout the way they bring ya to your knees

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman does somethin’ to me

-

Ooh, ooh

-

Never used to beg

Never used to plead

Yeah, settling down just wasn’t for me

Wasn’t the type that would rush in

Thought I was good, but I wasn’t

Lord, I can’t even function now man

-

There’s somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout the way they bring ya to your knees

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman does somethin’ to me

-

Make your heart start to beat,

Make you sweat, make you dream

Lose your mind, lose your sleep

Pushin’ me, doin’ things I thought I couldn’t

Aw there’s just somethin’ ‘bout a woman

-

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em that sets you free

-

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

There’s somethin’ ‘bout ‘em

Somethin’ ‘bout the one that you sent to me

-

Ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh

-

There’s somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Oh, there’s somethin’ ‘bout the way they bring ya to your knees

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman does somethin’ to me

-

Ooh

Somethin’ ‘bout a woman

Ooh

There’s somethin’ ‘bout a woman”

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