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Tenille Townes expertly captures the nostalgia of life’s most meaningful moments with loved ones, noting that people often don’t know when they’ll experience something for “The Last Time” until after the moment has passed: “Everyone remembers the first time/ ‘Cause a heart knows there’ll never be another like this/ But the thing about the last time/ Is you don’t know that it’s the last time ‘til it is.”
Townes paints pictures throughout the song of a mom dropping her son off at school every day, until he turns 16 and gets his own car. That means the end of the days that he says “I love you, mom,” as he shuts the car door and heads through the doors of his school. The singer-songwriter also recalls memories with her grandfather, walking down by the water every Saturday and seeing him wear the same sweater and tie at Christmas: “Ain’t it funny how some memories fade, and some never die?” In the end, Townes is with her partner pledging to “love you like it’s the last time,” making the most of their moments together.
“’The Last Time’ is here!!! wrote this song thinking about how we put a frame around the memory of a first time… and how sometimes the last time can sneak up on us…” Townes wrote in a tweet when she shared the emotional song. She’s “here for all your nostalgic feelings!!”