Songfacts®:

• "Next Thing You Know" chronicles the trajectory of a relationship. Jordan Davis starts the song intent on staying single but that all changes after meeting a girl in a bar. As their union progresses, Davis uses the term "next thing you know" to express his surprise at how swiftly each milestone racks up; from his girlfriend moving in, to getting married, having kids, and finally grandchildren.
• Jordan Davis wrote the song with Chase McGill (Cole Swindell's "Break Up in the End," Kane Brown's "Lose It"), John Osborne (Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road," Morgan Wallen's "7 Summers") and Greylan James (Chris Young's "If That Ain't God," Kenny Chesney's "Happy Does") on June 14, 2022 at Universal Music Publishing Nashville. Davis' regular producer, Paul DiGiovanni, produced the track.
• DiGiovanni also sang the backing vocals with Trey Keller. The other musicians are:
  
  Keyboards: Alex Wright
  Electric Guitar: Derek Wells
  Acoustic Guitar: Ilya Toshinskiy
  Bass: Jimmie Lee Sloas
  Drums: Nir Z
  
  Guitarist Derek Wells' enigmatic and atmospheric guitar solo adds to the inspiring weight of the song's story. "It's very dreamy; there's a lot of delay and reverb," said DiGiovanni to Billboard. "It's not like a 'Here comes the guitar player to the front of the stage' moment. It just adds a little bit of a mood to the track."
• The song doesn't have a proper chorus, though Davis does repeat "next thing you know" at the beginning of each verse. "When you're trying to write songs for a, a job, not putting a chorus on it is a fast way to get it thrown into the garbage can," the singer said. "I think that makes me more proud of this song in that this is what we wanted to do with it and we just wanted to be as honest as possible in how fast life goes."
• After leaving the session, Davis was asked if he'd written anything that day. He said he had, but it was a song without a chorus, so he didn't think it had much chance. Little did Davis know his chorus-less song would connect with so many listeners.
• "Next Thing You Know" originated from a moment of introspection when it hit Davis like a ton of bricks that his daughter was approaching three years old. "They usually leave the house at 18, I have 15 years left with my daughter," he explained to Taste Of Country.
  
  The realization inspired Davis to write a song without a chorus that depicted the progression of life.
• When the four songwriters gathered in the writing room, McGill suggested the "Next Thing You Know" title. He envisioned a story about a couple meeting in a bar where the man initially insists he wants to remain single, but then changes his mind. Davis liked the concept but felt it was better suited for a lifetime love story, inspired by his own introspection about his daughter growing up.
  
  Although they knew it would be an ambitious undertaking, everyone agreed with Davis' suggestion. They took a moment to map out the various chapters of the song, ensuring they had a clear idea of the journey they wanted to take the listener on. "On a song like this, it felt like we needed to have a little bit of a road map before we got too far into it," McGill told Billboard. "Fairly quickly into writing a life song, you think, 'OK, if we spend 47 seconds of the song being 21, then we're not going to get a lot of life in there.' So kind of delicately, you have to think about how we get [in] the really important parts and yet move time along."
• The video, directed by Running Bear, follows one family's emotional life story as told by Davis' heartfelt lyrics. Davis brings his own family in for a cameo in the touching visual.
• For Davis, being the father of three children really amplified the idea for "Next Thing You Know."
  
  "Life's pretty crazy right now, especially in like where we're at in the touring season. I mean, it's just like the throes of touring, so it's like you're gone from home 100+ dates, most of the time 150, and that's half the year you don't get to see the kiddos," said Davis. "And I think too, even my son who's about to turn two, they change so much in this era, in that first year of life, you know and now the second. You leave for a week, you come back and he's got five new words. It just changes so quick, and you can't get those moments back. Baby number three kind of heightened the antennas for an idea like 'Next Thing You Know,' my kids are gonna be 18 and going to college."