Better Now
2018 single by Post Malone
"Better Now" is a song by American musician Post Malone from his second studio album, Beerbongs & Bentleys (2018). It was written by Malone, Billy Walsh, Louis Bell and Frank Dukes, with production handled by the latter two. The song was released to UK contemporary hit radio on May 25, 2018, and US contemporary hit radio on June 5, 2018, as the album's fifth and final single.
It reached the top 10 of the music charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The song was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
01Music and recording
In an interview with Pitchfork, producer Frank Dukes revealed information about the song's creation, stating it was "frankensteined" out of existing scraps of other studio sessions with Malone. The song's verse melody was written first, but with no words, along with a completely different beat and hook. To them, the beat did not fit the melody, and its hook felt "awkward". The vocal engineer Louis Bell then remembered an unused snippet from an old session, which was the song's chorus. It replaced the old hook in the song, and Dukes rewrote a new backing track on guitar, taking inspiration from the American band Weezer.
"Better Now" is described as a pop song. The song's sheet music, published by EMI Music Publishing at Musicnotes, shows that the song is written in the key of B♭ major, and follows a tempo of 150 beats per minute. The vocals in the song span from the low note of F3 to the high note of G4.
02Chart performance
"Better Now" debuted in the top ten in various countries, including at number one in Norway, number seven in the United States, and number six in the United Kingdom, becoming his third top 10 in the latter country. The single became his fifth top 10 hit in Australia, peaking at number two. It peaked at number 3 in the United States (prevented from further chart movement by Juice WRLD's "Lucid Dreams" as well as Maroon 5 and Cardi B's "Girls Like You").
Taylor Swift told Malone that she wished she had written the song, especially giving praise to its hook.
03Music video
The official music video for "Better Now" premiered on October 5, 2018, with B&W footage of concert performances.
04Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
05Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | 10× Platinum | 700,000‡ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria) | Platinum | 30,000‡ |
| Belgium (BRMA) | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) | 3× Diamond | 480,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Diamond | 800,000‡ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark) | 2× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| France (SNEP) | Diamond | 333,333‡ |
| Germany (BVMI) | Platinum | 400,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI) | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
| Mexico (AMPROFON) | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Netherlands (NVPI) | 2× Platinum | 160,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | 6× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway) | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Poland (ZPAV) | 2× Platinum | 100,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP) | 4× Platinum | 40,000‡ |
| Spain (Promusicae) | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA) | Diamond | 10,000,000‡ |
| Streaming | ||
| Sweden (GLF) | Platinum | 8,000,000† |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
06Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | May 25, 2018 | Contemporary hit radio | Republic | |
| United States | June 5, 2018 | |||
| Italy | June 15, 2018 | Universal | ||
| United States | June 25, 2018 | Hot adult contemporary | Republic |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Better Now”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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