When Tyler White joined Love on the Spectrum, Netflix’s series about the dating lives of people with varying degrees of autism, he became an instant fan favorite for his Southern charm and wealth of country music knowledge. Now, the Plant City, Florida, native is making a go as a country singer, with help from some Nashville power players.
While fans of the show already heard White’s first song, “Sounds Pretty Good to Me,” during a pivotal scene this season, he’s releasing the brand new “Oh Yeah Baby” to country radio and streaming services on Friday. He’ll also perform the song on the Grand Ole Opry.
In a new interview on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, White opens up about the personal inspiration for “Oh Yeah Baby,” which has a connection to his autism diagnosis.
“I was known to say ‘oh, yeah’ a lot in Season 3. I guess that’s a stim of mine I guess you can say,” White says. “I thought, ‘I need to add a little bit more to this.’ So instead of just saying ‘oh yeah,’ I said, ‘oh yeah, baby.’ I thought that’d be a good song idea.”
White co-wrote the song with Drew Trosclair, Lee Thomas Miller, and Jeff Garrison, utilizing some classic country imagery like hunting and fishing, and then calling back to his fiancée, Madison Marilla, whom he asked to marry him on Season 4 of Love on the Spectrum.
“We sat there and wrote the concept. The first verse is the answer to rhetorical questions, and then a lot of it is about what I really love about Madison,” White says.
The singer plays coy when asked if he’ll be returning to Love on the Spectrum next season, but offers that he and Marilla are starting to plot about their wedding. “We’ve had to keep the engagement a secret at first cause it’s TV and all,” he says. “We’re in the beginning stages of planning the wedding. It’s going to be a good time.”
Watch his full episode below.
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Vince Gill, Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Kings of Leon, the Black Crowes, Carly Pearce, Brandon Lake, Breland, Bryan Andrews, Noeline Hofmann, Adam Mac, Devon Gilfillian, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Ink, Ne-Yo, Rival Sons’ Jay Buchanan, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, Clever, authors Marissa R. Moss, Josh Crutchmer, Mark Gray, and Jonathan Bernstein, and Willie Nelson scholar John Spong.
