Nothin' Better To Do

Album: Family (2007)
Charted: 48 73
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Songfacts®:

  • In the lead single from her 12th studio album, LeAnn Rimes takes on the persona of a restless girl who stirs up trouble in her little hometown because there's "nothin' better to do." It was based on the singer's upbringing in Pelahatchie, a small town outside of Jackson, Mississippi (before her family relocated to Texas).

    "My house was literally across the street from a bait shop. They sold bait, chips, beer and ammunition," she told American Songwriter. "We started with those things that were real, and really me, and built this story around a girl-as if she never left. There's nothing better to do than cause a little trouble. It was fun to create songs like that."
  • Rimes wrote this song with her then-husband Dean Sheremet, and with Darrell Brown, her "What I Cannot Change" co-writer.
  • "Nothin' Better To Do" peaked at #14 Country, #8 Dance Club Songs, and #16 Adult Contemporary. It was the first time an artist simultaneously charted with a single on all three charts.
  • This was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2008 but lost to Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats."
  • The music video, directed by Rimes and David McClister, stars Rimes as a '30s-era criminal named Annie Jewel who is finally caught and incarcerated at a Women's Correctional Facility. She leads her fellow inmates in some dance choreography and incites a riot that results in her temporary escape. The clip was shot at the old Tennessee State Penitentiary, the same location used in the Tom Hanks movie The Green Mile.
  • Peaking at #4 in the US, Family was Rimes' last studio album to reach the Top 10.

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