Better | 5ive Songs

1. Dermot Kennedy, “Better Days”

🎵 “Better Days” • 🏷 Island • 📅 2021

Words can’t change unfortunate situations, but they can help to assuage pain and deliver positive vibes.  That’s exactly what Irish pop singer/songwriter 🎙 Dermot Kennedy does on 🎵 “Better Days”. According to Kennedy, “Better Days” is a “song about overcoming your fears and believing in better days.”

“Better Days” clocks in under three-and-a-half minutes.  Initially, the record is accompanied by a minimal, rhythmic piano line.  Kennedy begins singing, compelling, and wooing with his charming, Irish accent.  His voice is beautiful, expressive, and incredibly nuanced.  As the record progresses, it expands dynamically and instrumentally. Dermot navigates the ebb and flow superbly, showing poise and ‘rising to the occasion’ in the appropriate moments.  In addition to the eventual, gorgeous, full-fledged production and the awesome vocals of the musician, another selling point is the songwriting, particularly the gargantuan, moving chorus:

“I know you've been hurtin’
Waitin’ on a train that just won't come
The rain, it ain’t permanent
And soon we'll be dancin’ in the sun.”

Kennedy can’t heal or atone for pain himself, but his words – his thoughtful song – speaks volumes. 

2. OneRepublic, “Better Days”

💿 Human • 🏷 Mosley Music / Interscope • 📅 2020

“Oh, I know that there’ll be better days / Oh, that sunshine ‘bout to come my way.”  That is an encouraging message, 🎙 OneRepublic! In a USA Today interview, of 🎵 “Better Days,” 🎙 Ryan Tedder states, “[“Better Days” is] a non-cheesy anthem about what it feels like now to be in this time and space we’re in. But the only way I could release it in good conscience was by donating profits to the Red Cross…”  Focusing on the song itself, “Better Days” is fitting for times such as these.  It starts off with the lovely, uplifting chorus, excerpted above and continued below:

“May we never ever shed another tear for today
‘Cause oh, I know that there’ll be better days.”

The verses were directly influenced by the state of the world at the time – the effects that COVID-19 on everyday life.  “Every day is like another storm /…I’m just trying not to go insane,” Tedder sings on the first verse.  On the second, he adds, “I been waking up with a new fear / But I know it’ll wash away,” showing at least a sense of hope that those ‘better days’ are indeed coming soon.  Falling short of two-and-a-half-minutes, “Better Days” is potent, nonetheless.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 10 Songs That Capture & Embody the Pandemic
🔗 🎧 Quarantine Sucks, But At Least We Have Bops

3. Alicia Keys, “Love Looks Better”

💿 ALICIA • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 2020

“So, can we talk for a minute? / Stop for a minute? / All I wanna do is you.” 🎵 “Love Looks Better” arrived as the seventh single from 💿 ALICIA, the seventh studio album by 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B artist, 🎙 Alicia Keys. Focusing on the ‘look’ at hand, “Love Looks Better” finds Keys writing and producing with some of the biggest names in pop music: 🎛 Noel Zancanella and 🎛 Ryan Tedder. The collaboration pays off as “Love Looks Better” contrasts everything she’s released up to this point. 

Musically, things are energetic from the jump, with accompaniment including piano bass notes and big drums. This isn’t a R&B exclusive background, but rather one blending the best of R&B and pop. Eventually, more of the piano range enters (right hand), as well as some synths with things only growing in scope. As far as her performance, she’s compelling and quite commanding. Furthermore, she has a nice melody to work with. Throw in catchy sections and a relatable theme, and all it’s all good. 

“Oh, can we touch for a second?
Be us for a second?
Don't matter what I give it to
My love looks better on you.”

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 13 LOOK Songs Totally Worth Listening To

4. Swedish House Mafia, “It Gets Better”

🎵 “It Gets Better” • 🏷 SSA Recording / Republic • 🗓 2021

“It gets better, baby (Better baby) / I want you, baby (I want you baby), yeah.” Woo-hoo 🎙 Swedish House Mafia – 🎙 Axwell, 🎙 Steve Angello, and 🎙 Sebastian Ingrosso – are back!  🎵 “It Gets Better” is an electric, electronic vibe, period.  Swedish House Mafia produces alongside 🎛 Carl Nordström, yielding colorful, ear catching results.  This includes a stomping beat, moody, minor-key synths, and some key samples.  The Mafia incorporates elements of 🎵 “Lightning’s Girl” (🎙 Nancy Sinatra) and vocally/lyrically, 🎵 “One More Time (A cappella)” courtesy of 🎙 Divas of Color featuring 🎙 Evelyn “Champagne” King.

 The way that SHM has synthesized various ideas is utterly brilliant – the biggest takeaway from “It Gets Better.” The lyrics are minimal which is common in dance, electronic, and house music.  Sure, those vocals samples aren’t giving award-winning songwriting, but they help make “It Gets Better” the gem that it is. This is a fab electronic cut that should fly onto any electronic enthusiast’s listening rotation.

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Awesome Songs That Tickled My Fancy: July 2021

5. Don Diablo, “Kill Me Better”

with Imanbek, Ft. Trevor Daniel

🎵 “Kill Me Better” • 🏷 HEXAGON • 🗓 2020

“I fell in love with the warzone / This is not my home / This is just a place where I’ve been…” Ah, there is nothing like a rad electronic song, is there? Sure, 🎵 “Kill Me Better” possesses a somewhat morbid and contradictory title, but the song itself is rad. Dutch DJ and record producer 🎙 Don Diablo does wonders with his work behind the boards speaking volumes.  🎙 Imanbek, a young DJ from Kazakhstan, joins him.  Sweetening the deal are the vocals of ascending pop singer, 🎙 Trevor Daniel. 

Numerous writers that make “Kill Me Better” go. From an instrumental standpoint, “Kill Me Better” is awesome, with its energetic, inescapable synthwave vibes on full display. There’s an 80s vibe but “Kill Me Better” sounds like a proud product of 2020.  Beyond the masterful production by Diablo, it’s the vocals of Trevor Daniel that bring the record to life.  Daniel brings an emo/punk vibe, which is super cool when mixed with the synthwave sound.  Furthermore, the lyrics add to this emo-tilt, particularly the pre-chorus:

“Gotta kill another demon left in my head
He’s been scheming no the walls and under my bed
It’s these suicidal thoughts that I’m fed
Welcome to my American wasteland.”

Don Diablo, Imabek, and Trevor Daniel make one heck of a team. Great production, great writing, and awesome singing make “Kill Me Better” a surefire winner.  

Also appears on 🔽:
🔗 🎧 Awesome Songs That Tickled My Fancy: November 2020