The band and Interscope Records will donate a portion of the song's proceeds to MusiCares and the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
OneRepublic unveiled their hopeful new single “Better Days” on Wednesday (March 25).
On the comforting, mid-tempo ballad, the band looks to a brighter future amid the chaos and fear of the current state of the world. “Oh, I know that there’ll be better days/ Oh, that sunshine ’bout to come my way/ May we never, ever shed another tear for today/ ‘Cause oh, I know that there’ll be better days,” frontman Ryan Tedder croons on the track’s booming, choir-backed chorus.
According to Tedder, the song was directly inspired by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic upending lives across the globe. “We were in the final week of our fifth album deadline when a global pandemic was declared by the WHO. A few of us unknowingly got exposed to somebody with COVID-19 in London and ended up in quarantine in L.A. at my studio for two weeks. With only two songs left to finish, one of them happened to be ‘Better Days,'” he said in a statement. “We write about real experiences and events that happen to us – this is what happens when you write a song during a crisis.”
“Better Days” will be featured on OneRepublic’s long-awaited fifth album Human, and follows singles “Rescue Me,” “Wanted” and Didn’t I.” The LP is set to be released May 8 Interscope Records
The band also announced that, in conjunction with Interscope, they’ll be donating a portion of the single’s streaming proceeds to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping those in the music community affected by the pandemic’s impact on the industry.
Listen to “Better Days” below.
