Thomas Rhett “Overdrive” Music Video – The Pick-Up, the Puns, the Pet Peeves

I love the clips of the young lovebirds riding through the carwash in the back of the pick-up truck. You’d think someone would’ve thought of that by now for a music video but I can’t recall ever seeing it before. Of course, the reality is that those big rubber brushes would’ve knocked them out cold Wipeout-style and yes, I was secretly hoping for that. Cooler heads prevailed, though, because I guess no one wanted a trip to the hospital or you know, to get sued or anything. However tame, those scenes are a good addition to the video. Check out the entire thing then scroll down for more info and thoughts about the new video from Thomas Rhett for his song “Overdrive”…

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The video stars Thomas Rhett’s younger brother Tyler Lankford and I appreciate the non-actor vibe throughout the video. A few of the clips really stand out as genuine moments between two normal people instead of a contrived script performed by actors. I especially noticed this when the couple was interacting in the back of the truck. Kudos for using people are aren’t already seasoned actors. The humanness really comes through.

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Decades Late. I guess I can get over the fact that Thomas Rhett is 34-year-old singing about a high school Friday night because I’ll assume his upcoming album will have more age-appropriate songs on it, as well. Nothing wrong with a little nostalgia now and then even if high school was half a lifetime ago. The mention of Bacardi is unoriginal… a lot of country music tends to namedrop alcohol brands (Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Coors, etc) and Bacardi pops up in basically all genres of music. Except maybe Christian music? Hey, it’s hard to make “Going to Heaven I won’t be tardy, even if I don’t finish my Bacardi” sound church-friendly.

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4x4s. The video also skids into one of my biggest pet peeves in music. Namedropping a truck (Ford, Chevy, etc) but showing something different in the video. In this song, Thomas sings about a 2004 Ford “F-One Five Oh,” but he’s not driving a ’04 Ford F-150. In fact, he’s not driving an F-150 at all. In the video, it’s a 1975 Ford F-100 (although the F-150 did make its debut in 1975). Because he at least used a Ford truck, I’m giving Thomas a pass on this but with a double side-eye. There’s another Ford from the 70s in Lainey Wilson’s new video “4x4xU” and later model Ford in the Lauren Watkins “Gatlinburg” video… so there must be a new Ford dealership in Nashville sponsoring these songs or something.

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I don’t want to be too harsh because I admire anyone who can write, perform in front of thousands, all while being a spouse, parent, and just an all around great person. It seems like Thomas Rhett is all of those things. Like I said before, I’m sure his full album will have lots of music appealing to lots of music fans. But a song written by 4 people shouldn’t be as bland as it is. It’s also 10 years too late. It wreaks of 2010s bro-country instrumentation common to mainstream country music in the previous decade. I’ve been reading a book about the life of Roy Orbison. Among all of his hits there are periods where he’d be writing music to fit whatever trend is going on at the time. These were some of his worst songs (if that even can be said!). Maybe a better way to say it is that the songs where Roy wrote music with the paycheck as the endgame were some of his more forgettable offerings. Like a factory making gadgets that are passing fads. This song from Thomas reminds me of that, except that the bro-country or boyfriend-country fad passed years ago. Because of that, the best anyone can hope for is that “Overdrive” is part of the tour setlist this summer/fall and then it gets shuffled over to the dark and dusty room where songs that aren’t every played again are shelved. There’s no way it turns heads on any Billboard charts and honestly, it might only surprise people by how quickly it disappears without being a song that adds to country music’s legacy in any way.

Part of the reason for I rolled my eyes when I listened to it is the pun title. Thomas sings of putting the truck in overdrive but then also includes, “I’m coming overdrive” as in… I’m coming over… combined with overdrive… get it? So clever. 🥴

Lyrical twists in country music titles and lyrics go way, way back (anyone remember the witty Bellamy Brothers song from the late 70s, “If I Said You Have a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”?) but I think its recent popularity in country music peaked in the early 2010s. One of my favorites was (and is) Eric Church’s “Homeboy.” But just like bro country, people were over it (or should I say overdrive it) after a couple of years of market saturation. In other words, this offering from Thomas is out of place in 2024.

Overall, the video is fun and makes the song come to life. It’s just going to be a short life. However, if anyone is talking about this forgettable song a year from now or even a month from now, I’ll gladly post another blog admitting I deserve a big, fat L for today’s post.

-Out of the Wilderness