"Better Life" is a song co-written and recorded by Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist Keith Urban. It was released on 25 July 2005 as the fourth single from his 2004 album ''

Be Here ''Be Here'' is the fourth studio album by New Zealand-born Australian country singer Keith Urban. It was released on 21 September 2004, through Capitol Nashville. With four million copies sold, the album is not only Urban's best-selling album, ...

''. The song became Urban's seventh number one hit on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and spent six weeks at that position. It also peaked at number 44 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Urban wrote this song with

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

Content

The mid-to-uptempo song is driven by a chugging

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

part set against a distinctive

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

pattern. The message of an optimistic future prevailing over current struggles pervades the lyrics, summarized by the chorus. Urban's

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

playing further decorates the song, especially in its outro.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Better Life" was directed by

Chris Hicky Chris Hicky is a writer/director from Forrest City, Arkansas, United States, best known for directing many of Keith Urban's videos. Hicky has also directed videos for many other artists in the country music genre, including Dierks Bentley, Madd ...

. It shows Urban and his band performing the song in a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

culvert (filmed at the Los Angeles River bridge, where several music videos across many different music genres have been filmed at), intercut with scenes of a struggling young pair of lovers having their ups and downs and finally ending up in the culvert to watch Urban perform. In April 2006, Urban won the

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

Video of the Year for the video. Urban closed that awards show with a live performance of the song, featuring a long interpolation of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's " The Rising" and backing vocals from a large

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

consisting of displaced persons from the previous summer's

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

Chart performance

"Better Life" debuted at number 43 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week of 30 July 2005.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2005 singles 2004 songs Music videos directed by Chris Hicky Keith Urban songs Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by Richard Marx Songs written by Keith Urban Capitol Records Nashville singles