2022 marks the 10-year anniversary of Thomas Rhett launching his career as a solo country artist, with the release of his debut single, “Something to Do with My Hands,” in early 2012.  So much has happened in Thomas’ career in the last decade, and if he could go back and give himself any advice in 2012, Thomas says, “I would say that you are not in control, and you might as well let the control go. I think for so long early on in my career, I tried to make it happen alone. You know, I thought that if I could just write a better song or if I could play a better show that I would be able to do it at a high level.”

In hindsight, Thomas says trying to micro-manage and control everything in his career early on definitely took a toll on him. “The anxiety and the wonder of, is this record gonna do well? Where’s my song at on the chart? How many streams do we have? I feel like I did that for like five years, and it was exhausting.”

It’s not that Thomas has stopped caring about those things, he’s just learned to control what he can control and let go of other things. “I just started to kinda let go of control and create. And I’m just in a lot happier, more content headspace,” he says.

Ultimately Thomas feels like the stress of those earlier years led him to the happier place he’s in now, which is why he says, “I think that’s the reason we can’t go tell ourselves those things, is because I think we have to experience them to get to where we are today. But if I could, that’s what I would say.”