Maren Morris shared a new song with fans on Friday, Oct. 2, releasing the moving “Better Than We Found It.” The song was written by Morris, Jessie Jo Dillon, Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz and is an inspiring and powerful message of change, asking listeners not to stand by when injustice is being committed but instead to work together to “leave this world better than we found it.”
“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 during the chorus. “Will we sit on our hands doing nothing about it / Or will we leave this world better than we found it?” In the song’s final chorus, Morris changes the first line to “I just hope my son’s proud of the woman I was,” referencing her 6-month-old son, Hayes.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The music video was directed by Gabrielle Woodland and follows three sets of people — Gustavo Flores and his younger brother, who have lived in the United States for most of their lives under the Dream Act but were told in January they would be sent back to Mexico, teens Jade and Emma Rose, who worked with Teens4Equality to organize a Black Lives Matter protest that drew over 10,000 people, and the family of Daniel Hambrick, who was shot and killed by a Nashville police officer in 2018.
The video also features photos from protests around the country, which are interspersed with shots of Morris performing the song in a church. A portion of proceeds from “Better Than We Found It” will be donated to the Black Women’s Health Imperative, and you can go to www.bwhi.org to donate. The Texas native has never hesitated to share her beliefs with fans and has been vocal about social justice this year, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, denouncing President Trump and encouraging her fans to vote.
“Better Than We Found It, the video,” Morris wrote on Instagram. “Grateful for everyone in the video who told their story & for [George Woodland] for sharing them so beautifully.” The 30-year-old first shared lyrics from the song on Twitter on Aug. 30, telling her followers that “it felt so good to write after this damn week.”
“Better Than We Found It” is one of the multiple songs that Morris has released during the coronavirus pandemic — in June, she released “Just for Now” and “Takes Two,” which were taken from the singer’s archive of previously-written songs.
