Maren Morris may have been in between albums in 2020, but that doesn’t mean she shied away from sharing new music. Amid the pandemic, election, and Black Lives Matter demonstrations, Morris used her platform in the country music scene to share a poignant anthem about the importance of taking a stand against injustice. Now, Morris brings the soulful track “Better Than We Found It” to a performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Morris takes the stage backed by a full band, complete with a harmonica and two acoustic guitars. The song starts slow, building to an erupting chorus where Morris takes an opportunity to showcase her soaring vocals.
Upon sharing the song in October, Morris offered reasoning as to why she chose to pen a protest song:
“I wanted to write something to address exactly how I feel right now, and this came together pretty quickly. 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. 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.”
Watch Morris perform “Better Than We Found It” on The Late Show above.