Alice Phoebe Lou Opts for Optimism in New Single ‘Better’
Photo via Instagram
Alice Phoebe Lou’s vocals arrive in her new single “Better” alongside a simple piano melody, just as her love interest arrives at a Saturday night party. She is eagerly anticipating this special somebody, going so far as to playfully ask them to please “Excuse my weird vibe”. As the pace between them picks up, she is joined by instrumentation from collaborators David Parry (of the band Loving), Dekel Adin, and Ziv Yarmin. For a minute, things are going up, up, up into a sweet atmospheric glaze: “You’re holding me tight, there’s a knowing / That things can only get better and better”.
The melody is like a breath of fresh spring air amidst our current fall backdrop: fresh, winding, hopeful, and easy-going. It walks side by side to Alice Phoebe Lou’s storyline, which is about to suddenly take a turn off of the laid out path: “Then we came up for air / And suddenly you didn’t seem to care” she observes. It’s a story most of us are familiar with and try to avoid, yet we don’t realize we’re tangled up until it’s too late. She suggests, however, that it’s no use staying in the rubble. In fact as she watches them walk away, she is thinking fondly of the time they shared.
This is where I feel the most heat and humanity of the song: reminiscent of the sisterly-advice energy of some of her other songs like “My Girl” and “Shelter”, Alice Phoebe Lou reminds us that it is okay to look back for a moment, but don’t look down. She insists on holding tight to the idea of “better”, finding a way to fit it into a new context that urges forward momentum: “Oh I had written our story before it / Had earned its glory / Without you, things can only get better and better.” Once again we are swept up into the whimsical refrain of her band members which wraps up the reassuring single with a leisurely, slow-to-silence closing.
Alice Phoebe Lou’s run as the opening act of Clairo’s Charm Tour ends today, but make sure to keep an eye out for more tunes on socials and via newsletter.
