Home → OneRepublic → Better Days
Better Days
Pop · 2020

Better Days

OneRepublic

Polished pop-rock anthem capturing the specific anxiety and forced optimism of early 2020. Rhythmic piano and soaring vocals offer hope.

March 25, 2020 · Mosley Music

Find on Amazon

Better Days is a sonic time capsule, a polished piece of pop-rock that arrived exactly when the world stopped moving. It carries the signature OneRepublic DNA: rhythmic piano, cinematic builds, and Ryan Tedder’s acrobatic vocals, but it is infused with a specific, localized urgency. The production feels both intimate and expansive, moving from dry, close-mic’d verses that mirror the feeling of being trapped indoors to massive, reverb-drenched choruses that aim for the rafters of a stadium that was, at the time, empty.

Moments Worth Listening For
The transition from the sparse, rhythmic piano intro to the explosive, multi-tracked vocal harmony in the first chorus.
The bridge where Ryan Tedder’s falsetto stretches over a pulsing synth bass, creating a moment of suspended tension.
The final outro where the instrumentation strips back to just a rhythmic clap and a hummed melody.
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does Better Days sound next to the rest of OneRepublic's catalogue?

Solitude+2.0σ

Solitude saturates this record far more than the artist's norm.

Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →