Rodney Atkins is re-imagining a blast from the past… and people aren’t sure how to feel about it.
If the name sounds familiar, the country artist burst onto the scene in the early 2000s after signing his first record deal in 1996. After releasing two albums (Rodney Atkins, Honesty) in the first few years of his career with not much critical acclaim, Atkins decided to change things up a bit with his third album If You’re Going Through Hell.
A simple change of image and focus landed Atkins a couple of number one hits, including “If You’re Going Through Hell” and “Watching You.” Funny enough, the latter song was inspired by the former, after Atkins found out that his son, Elijah, was singing the song about hell and the devil at school. Elijah even starred in the music video for the No. 1 Hot Country hit song.
Which you can view here:
Now I know this is hard to hear, but 2006 is almost 20 years ago now.
A lot of time has passed since the release of “Watching You.” So much so that Rodney Atkins’ son Elijah has actually grown as tall as his father, just like the original song talked about. Elijah is apparently is a bit of an artist himself in 2025, though he didn’t follow in his father’s country music footsteps.
It sounds like he instead followed in the footsteps of The Weeknd:
@elijahatkins___Interlude♬ Slow dance and watch the world burn – Eli A.
So knowing that Elijah had some musical talent himself, Rodney Atkins decided that now would be as good a time as any to reimagine “Watching You.” On May 23, Atkins and his son – who starred in the original music video alongside his dad – are releasing “Watching You 2.0,” with Elijah filling in on the parts of the song from his perspective:
“The duet is almost here y’all… Let me know in the comments if you’re ready for ‘Watching You 2.0!’ Can you believe he’s all grown up?”
@rodneyatkinsmusic The duet is almost here y’all…Let me know in the comments if you’re ready for ‘Watching You 2.0!’ Can you believe he’s all grown up? #RodneyAtkins #CountryMusic #WatchingYou #FatherSon #Family @Eli A. ♬ Watching You 2.0 – Rodney Atkins & Elijah Atkins
What do you think?
There are some online that are emotionally crushed by the fact that Atkins and his son are working together on the song he penned almost two decades ago. Many are saying they “feel old” seeing Elijah all grown up, and love the idea for the reimagined version.
On the flip side, others are saying that Elijah’s side of the song sounds heavily produced. Considering that Elijah’s own music has that sound, it might have just been a personal preference thing from his side. That being said, the “autotune” comments are alive and well.
The good news is that Rodney Atkins is handling all of the mixed reviews the right way, leaving this message below one of his posts on TikTok:
“Anyone who wants to say something hateful, you are 100 percent entitled to your opinion- but you will be blocked so ya don’t have to see our videos anymore. Y’all have a great day.”
Stay tuned…
