Following up on “This Is What You Came For,” for which she first anonymously, then publicly wrote the lyrics to ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris’s music, Taylor Swift has penned the latest single for country group Little Big Town called “Better Man,” about an ex she wishes had been.
“She sent us this song, and it was one that was really special to her,” Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild said in a Facebook Live this week. “And she thought of us because of the harmonies, and she’s never pitched a song to anyone before and the moment that we heard it we were like, ‘Man, that is a song that we’re gonna cut.’”
The lyrics will clearly be plumbed for connections to both Harris and Tom Hiddleston, but they are vague enough that they could really be about anyone. Case in point, the chorus:
Sometimes in the middle of the night I can feel you again/But I just miss you and I just wish you were a better man/And I know why we had to say goodbye like the back of my hand/And I just miss you and I just wish you were a better man/A Better Man
Like much of their oeuvre, the look of the music video above isn’t my cup of tea, but Fairchild’s voice is always impressive to listen to. And though it’s not quite as clever a song as “Girl Crush,” this type of almost-ballad always works better than Jimmy Buffett-esque tracks like “Pain Killer.”
The band will perform Wednesday night at the CMA Awards.