Better Now (Collective Soul song)

"Better Now" is a song by American alternative rock band Collective Soul, released as the second single off their sixth studio album, Youth (2004), on January 24, 2005. It was written by singer-guitarist Ed Roland and producer Dexter Green. The coda features a saxophone solo. In concert, this is replaced with a guitar solo. The radio edit version also includes a guitar solo. "Better Now" failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 but peaked at number 17 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and entered the top 10 on the Adult Top 40 and Triple-A rankings.

Composition

During a live Collective Soul performance at The Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts, on August 19, 2023, Ed Roland said that "Better Now" is "...the best damn divorce song ever. And honestly, I'll lay this down on any divorce song ever on the planet. I will. Because it's positive. It's not negative. It's positive." Jason Damas of PopMatters described the song as "a big, energetic pop hook set to a Cars-ish, robotic grind, and is spiked with a colorful layer of horns for color."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

In popular culture

• The Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Indiana, uses the song in recent television and radio ads.
• The Kellogg Company used it in an ad for its Special K cereal, "feeling better now" in this instance being used to denote a woman's feeling healthier after going on their "Special K diet."
• For the 2008 Canadian election, Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper used the song as his intro music when he entered his party HQ for a victory speech. The song was similarly used in the 2011 Conservative federal election campaign. The song was once again featured heavily by the Conservative Party during the 2015 federal election campaign.
• The ending of the film Cursed. It is also featured on the soundtrack to the film.
• The band performed the song in the Charmed episode "Scry Hard".
• The trailer for the 2007 film Wild Hogs features the song.

References

External links