On the heels of Thomas Rhett’s fifth career GRAMMY Awards nomination, the country star has delivered a heart-racing official music video today for “Slow Down Summer” (The Valory Music Co.) on YouTube and CMT. The video made its broadcast premiere on CMT, CMT Music, and ViacomCBS Times Square Billboards.
Directed by P. Tracy, the music video bursts with technicolor as it follows the pulsating journey of “a young couple desperately clinging to those last moments of summer – and their short-lived romance” (Billboard). Thomas Rhett dials up a powerful piano-driven performance alongside gripping flashbacks as the inevitable change in seasons morphs into a crushing reality — ultimately sealing the couple’s fate.
“Slow Down Summer” serves as the first taste of Thomas Rhett’s sixth studio album Where We Started, which is set to be released early 2022 and has quickly ascended into the Top 30 at Country radio.
The country star wrote the number with frequent collaborators Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure, Sean Douglas, and his father and former country hitmaker in his own right, Rhett Akins. “I wrote this song from the point of view of two people who are in love during senior year of high school,” says Rhett.
“I envisioned them headed off to different schools and they’re starting to understand that the moment the weather starts to change, they’ve got a 99-percent chance this relationship is not going to work. I know that myself and a lot of people have been there before, wishing the fireworks stage doesn’t have to end.”
The music follows Country Again: Side A — a creative milestone, highlighting the star’s personal roots and unique song craft. The album, which “brims with the sort of self-revealing songs that have turned him into a superstar,” (PEOPLE) earned Thomas Rhett’s 18th career No.1 with back-to-back chart-toppers, while the title track is recognized with a Best Country Song nomination at The 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards.