Thomas Rhett not only gained a duet partner in Katy Perry, but a close friend as well. The 32-year-old is joined by Perry on “Where We Started,” the title track of his sixth studio album. Although he was astounded that the pop superstar agreed to join him on the song, and video, Rhett now says that the two have become close friends.
“She’s great,” Rhett boasted on Audacy’s Rob + Holly. “She was so easy to work with — super humble, super down to earth, great talent, and obviously knows how to do music videos way better than I because she’s on TV way more than I am. So she was coaching me through that.”
The two also bonded over being parents, which Rhett says became far more important than the music they were working on.
“We literally talked about our kids the entire time,” the father of four shares. “How we’re raising them, and what we’re feeding them. I think that’s what you do as a parent these days, you’re just like, ‘Oh, let me show you this one picture on my phone of my kid that you’ve never met!’”
Rhett was stunned when his label suggested they reach out to Perry to sing with him on the track, and even more surprised when she agreed.
“I didn’t know Katy Perry before the song,” Rhett reveals. “My label actually sent her team the song, and she somehow loved it. I thought it was such a shot in the dark…She just took the song and made it great. I always loved the song, but I loved it even more once she hopped on it. [We] kind of struck up a friendship and still to this day, [I] can’t believe that it came together the way that it did.”
Rhett knew Perry was a talented singer, but he had no idea how talented she was, until she joined him on “Where We Started.”
“When she put her vocal on, it took her like two weeks,” Rhett shared with Everything Nash and other outlets during a virtual media event. “She really put a lot of time and effort into this vocal, and it’s one of the best. I mean, she’s an incredible singer, but this kind of reminded me of how amazing of a vocalist she is. I just felt like it really came to life.”
Rhett just dropped his first holiday record, Merry Christmas, Y’all. Find all of Rhett’s music at ThomasRhett.com.