“Remember You Young” is Thomas Rhett’s latest nostalgia-inducing masterpiece. Known for being a family man who met his wife in the second grade, Rhett beautifully crafts the idea of remembering people in their most natural state.
In many of his previous songs, Rhett touches upon themes of youth by mentioning his marriage at the age of 22, as well as his two children, one of whom is biological, and the other adopted. This song builds upon those simple themes of youth as Rhett romanticizes the juxtaposition between the recklessness and innocence of youth.
“Remember You Young” begins with Rhett mentioning the old friends he grew up with and the wild adventures they shared as teenagers. However, while he and his friends have since matured into responsible adults, he still sees them as the carefree and reckless kids they once were.
Rhett continues this verse by reminiscing memories with his wife. While he looks at her in the present day, she looks put together and mature as she sips red wine. However, in his mind’s eye, she will forever exist as the girl who shut down bars with him while drinking tequila shots.
In the next verse, Rhett pays tribute to his children. While he knows that they will both grow up one day, to him, they will forever remain innocent babies crawling on the carpet.
Rhett acknowledges the way that life changes the people he grew up with, but refuses to accept their current personalities as the only version of them that ever existed. He views his loved ones with a perspective that gives him flashbacks to the people they were before they figured out who they really were: kids who were “shameless and painless and perfect and anxious.” As he combs back through the roots of these people’s’ lives and personalities, he immortalizes them in his mind as carefree children who “never have to grow up.”
