While self-quarantining as a band, OneRepublic have written the hopeful new song “Better Days.” Their fifth album, Human, will be out on May 9th.
“Better Days” was written and recorded by the band over the last week. The track is a bit of optimism in dark times. “Oh, I know that they’ll be better days/Oh, that sunshine ’bout to come my way,” Ryan Tedder sings. “May we never ever shed another tear for today/’Cause oh, I know that they’ll be better days.”
“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,” lead singer Ryan Tedder said in a statement. “With only two songs left to finish, one of them happened to be ‘Better Days.’ We write about real experiences and events that happen to us — this is what happens when you write a song during a crisis.”
Through September 2020, a portion of the streams of “Better Days” will be donated to MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund to help fellow artists whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic. They are also inviting fans to be a part of the music video for “Better Days” by submitting videos through the Cinebody app. The videos should show either acts of kindness from home or footage of first responders helping provide aid during the pandemic.
