"Something Better" is a song by American DJ and electronic music producer

Audien Nathaniel "Nate" Rathbun (born January 11, 1992), better known under his stage name Audien, is a Grammy-nominated American DJ, record producer and musician. He produces progressive house, Trance music, trance, electro house, and Trap music (EDM), ...

from his debut EP, ''

Daydreams Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...

'', featuring vocals by American country music trio

Lady Antebellum Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar) ...

. The song was written by Audien, Peter Hanna and Taylor Bird, and produced by Audien. The song was released to digital retailers through

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

on July 10, 2015 as the EP's second single. On September 1, 2015 it was serviced to American

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

via Astralwerks and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. The song reached the top of the US ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart dated September 26, 2015.

Background

On June 10, 2015, Lady Antebellum performed with DJ and producer

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German disc jockey, DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaise ...

at the year's

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 ...

with a mashup of their then-current single "

Long Stretch of Love "Long Stretch of Love" is a song recorded by American country music group Lady Antebellum and serves as the third and final single from the group's sixth studio album, '' 747'' (2014). It was released to radio in the UK on February 6, 2015 and then ...

" and Zedd's "

Beautiful Now "Beautiful Now" is a song by Russian-born German musician Zedd from his second studio album, ''True Colors (Zedd album), True Colors'' (2015), featuring vocals from American singer-songwriter Jon Bellion. It was written by Zedd, Bellion, Antonina ...

". They revealed to ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

'' on the

red carpet A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events. History The earliest known reference to ...

for the event that the performance was "a little bit of a preview" for a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

song they were releasing with

later that summer ("Something Better"). Audien approached Lady Antebellum to record the vocals for the song due to its call-and-response structure and potential for harmonies, characteristics common to the trio's music. He also noted that the group were "some of the best voices ... in overall music" and described the song to ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' as "simply my favorite thing I've ever done." Lady Antebellum member

Charles Kelley Charles Burgess Kelley (born September 11, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and lead singer and founding member of the country music trio Lady A, which was formed in 2006 and are signed to Big Machine Records. Early life and career Kelle ...

explained that the group "knew

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

wanted to be part of

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

from the first time they heard it as they were "immediately drawn to its great melody and powerful lyric." The band was open to pushing the boundaries of country music with the song, noting that they had questioned how well their 2010

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

-leaning single, "

Our Kind of Love "Our Kind of Love" is a song recorded by American country music group Lady Antebellum. Written by the trio along with busbee, it was released on May 31, 2010, as the third single from their album '' Need You Now''. It debuted at number 50 on t ...

", would be received by country radio when it was first released. "We'll always stay true to the country genre," Kelley assured fans, "but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun."

Critical reception

* Laura McClellan of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' praised the vocal performances of

Hillary Scott Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum, a country music group that was formed in 2006, and is signed to Big Machine Records. ...

and

on the track and described "Something Better" as a "driving, dance-y pop tune you won’t be able to get out of your head." * Christina Vinson of ''Taste of Countrys sister site ''The Boot'' complimented Lady Antebellum for " ushingboundaries," noting that the song proves the trio is "not just a top-notch country group," but "a top-notch group, period." * Jon Freeman of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' said that "Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley f Lady Antebellumrepurpose their signature boy-girl vocals here". He describes the song as "a pop-savvy, piano-driven melody with build-and-release tension that explodes into emotive instrumental passages".

Music video

An accompanying video premiered November 14, 2015 and features a young man who encounters a woman implied to be an extraterrestrial who is on the run from the authorities. He takes the woman back to his farm, where she reveals special abilities, before the police arrive and the woman is beamed back up into space. Xa -12- 43672 Laura McClellan praised the video for combining "equal parts

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

," representing the song's blending of

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

genres.

Track listings

; Digital download – single # "Something Better" – 3:33 ; Digital download – remixes

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Lady Antebellum 2015 songs 2015 singles Lady A songs Astralwerks singles Capitol Records singles Electronic dance music songs Songs written by Audien Audien songs Songs written by Peter Hanna Songs written by Taylor Bird (songwriter)