Thomas Rhett Taps Niall Horan For New Version Of ‘Old Tricks’

Thomas Rhett has just dropped a new collaboration that fans didn’t see coming. This time, he stepped outside of his genre to team up with Niall Horan for a fresh take on “Old Tricks.”

Rhett originally dropped the song with Blake Shelton for his About A Woman (Deluxe) project, but after getting a sense of Horan’s genuine appreciation for a good country song, he knew they needed to put their vocals to the test in the studio together. Horan dropped a teaser that this collaboration was coming when he posted a video to TikTok on October 1 of him strumming his acoustic guitar and singing along to the tune casually on his couch.

He wrote, “Love this song by my pal Thomas Rhett and my Voice dad, Blake Shelton.”

The following post, he shared a video of him giving his best attempt to capture the cowboy look.

“Heard Thomas Rhett hosted a Blake Shelton lookalike contest. Is it too late to audition?”

The news finally broke with another clever clip that featured string of text messages between the trio of country superstars. In the messages, Rhett was seen informing Shelton that since he wasn’t available to shoot content for their collaboration, they found a “really good stand in.”

Horan then jumped in to say “Blake! Did you hear TR and I have a song coming out together?”

@thomasrhett Couldn’t say no to this. Old Tricks with @Niall Horan ♬ Old Tricks – Thomas Rhett & Niall Horan

Shelton cleverly recalled back to his days on the singing competition show, The Voice, and hilariously responded, “Let me get this straight, first you steal my last chance at a win on The Voice and now you’re stealing my song? Unbelievable.”

It turns out this cross-genre experience is something that has been a long time coming as Rhett explained he and the former One Direction band member have been friends for “six or seven years now.”

Speaking on how Horan came to sing on the new version of “Old Tricks,” Rhett further explained, “Anytime I’m over in the UK or he’s in Nashville, we always try to link up. We’d talked about doing something together for a long time, but I never imagined it would be this song. I was at the Masters this year and went to hang out with Niall and Noah Kahan, and out of nowhere Niall goes, ‘I’m so mad you didn’t ask me to sing on “Old Tricks.”’ I said, ‘Man, you were the last person I would’ve thought would even like this one!’ He kept texting me about it after and he knew all the words.”

“With how fired up he was and his connection with Blake, it felt like a full-circle moment and turned into something really fun. I’m pumped it’s finally out there and hope y’all love it as much as we loved making it,” he added.

Horan explained that the first time he heard “Old Tricks,” he was “instantly hooked.” So when the opportunity arose to join forces with Rhett on a new version, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I’ve known Thomas Rhett for years now, and every time we’re in the same city, we end up catching up like no time’s passed. I actually heard ‘Old Tricks’ by accident one day when I was in the studio with my friend and producer Julian Bunetta who was working on the song. It came on and I was instantly hooked. I told Thomas Rhett straight up I was gutted he didn’t ask me to jump on it. I just loved everything about it, it’s a proper country song. Next thing I know, I’m in the studio laying vocals down,” Horan shared. “It felt easy, natural, like it was always meant to happen. I’m buzzing for people to finally hear it.”  

Thomas Rhett and Blake Shelton also have a longstanding friendship, making him a great first choice to record the tune with. Penned by Rhett alongside Andrew Haas, Ian Franzino, Jim Beavers, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta, “Old Tricks” offers the perfect laid back, two stepping beat in both versions.

The main difference is the “After All The Bars Are Closed” singer is now intertwining his vocals with Horan’s signature sound that effortlessly fits into the country music scene. Together, they share the same story about the reality of getting older and realizing their younger selves might’ve been their peak.

Suddenly, they’ve come to the conclusion that the hangovers hit harder, and recovery overall takes longer in this stage of life. Rhett’s duet partner then jumps in with his own perspective, pointing out that the moves that once impressed girls in the past don’t seem to work like they used to.

While the story is generally the same, a few of the lyrics are changed up to better fit Horan’s life, such as in the line “Like sayin’, “Huntin’ with the boys is a business trip” which finds the Irish artist singing, “Like sayin’ golfin’ with the boys is a business trip.”

The release of About A Woman (Deluxe) adds nine new songs to Thomas Rhett’s original project, making for a total of 25 tracks.

Now that Rhett has wrapped up his Better In Boots tour, he will enjoy some much-needed downtime for the remainder of the year. It was recently announced that fans will be able to catch him performing in the UK in 2026 as a supporting act on Luke Combs’ My Kinda Saturday Night Tour.

Fans can also catch Niall Horan on The Voice every Monday and Tuesday.