Maren Morris is calling for change in her new song, "Better Than We Found It," released on Friday (October 2).
The track, written by Morris alongside Jessie Jo Dillon, Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, challenges listeners to come together to make a positive change in the world. Morris questions if her future self will look back and be proud of how she's living her life now.
"When time turns this moment to dust / I just hope that I'm proud of the woman I was / When lines of tomorrow are drawn / Can I live with the side that I chose to be on?" Morris sings in the chorus. "Will we sit on our hands doing nothing about it / Or will we leave this world better than we found it?"
"I wanted to write something to address exactly how I feel right now, and this came together pretty quickly," Morris said in a statement. "It’s a protest song—it’s the most American thing to protest and protest songs have been so embedded in American culture: Bob Dylan, Nina Simone."
She continued, "I think the world right now is sort of in a perpetual mourning period and I wanted to have a song that had weight but also had hope. I still have hope for this country and for the future of it, and as a new mother I wanted to promise my son that I’m going to do everything in my power to leave this world better than the one I came into and the one I see right now."
Morris has also shared a powerful music video to accompany the song release. Directed by Gabrielle Woodland, the clip features performance shots of the country star and also follows three Nashville residents who are hoping for a better future. They include Gustavo Flores and his younger brother, who are living under threat of deportation, the family of Daniel Hambrick, who was shot and killed by a Nashville police officer in 2018, and a pair of friends who organized a massive Black Lived Matter protest.
The video incorporates photos from protests around the country and ends with Morris reading a letter she wrote to her infant son, Hayes. A portion of proceeds from "Better Than We Found It" will be donated to the Black Women's Health Imperative, the first nonprofit organization created by Black women to help protect and advance the health and wellness of Black women and girls. For more information visit www.bwhi.org.
Photo: Getty Images