No Better

{{Listen|filename=Lorde - No Better (Sample).ogg|title="No Better"|description=A 17 second sample of "No Better", combining electropop and trip hop genres with hip hop elements.|format=Ogg|pos=left}}

"No Better" was written by Lorde (credited under her birth-name Ella Yelich-O'Connor) and Joel Little.{{cite web|url=https://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch# |title=No Better |publisher=Australasian Performing Right Association |access-date=2014-05-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021015339/https://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch |archive-date=October 21, 2014 }} On 13 December 2013, the track was released as a digital download single on the iTunes Store.{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/au/album/no-better-single/732835277|title=No Better – Single by Lorde|publisher=iTunes Store (Apple) |location=Australia|access-date=2014-05-22}} The single was made available for free until 19 December as a part of the iTunes Store's "12 Days of Gifts" Christmas promotion.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/promotions/10515390/itunes-12-days-of-gifts.html |title=iTunes 12 Days of Gifts |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2013-12-13 |access-date=2014-05-23}}

"No Better" is an electropop and trip hop ballad with hip hop elements.{{cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/12/lorde-no-better-single-itunes-stream/|title=Hear Lorde's Bassy Stealth Single 'No Better'|work=Spin|date=2013-12-13|first=Marc|last=Hogan|access-date=2014-05-22}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213152805/http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/12/listen-lordes-surprise-new-single-no-better/|url=http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/12/listen-lordes-surprise-new-single-no-better/|title=Listen: Lorde's surprise new single, 'No Better'|publisher=Consequence of Sound|date=2013-12-13|archive-date=2013-12-13|access-date=2014-05-22|first=Chris|last=Coplan}} The song has a similar sonority to that of other songs from Pure Heroine, featuring Lorde's "feathery" vocals and minimal production.{{cite web|url=http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/listen-to-lordes-new-single-no-better/|title=Listen To Lorde's New Single 'No Better'|first=Tom|last=Williams|date=2013-12-14|access-date=2014-05-22|work=Music Feeds}} It incorporates "woozy" basslines,{{cite web|url=http://www.idolator.com/7498034/lorde-no-better-stream|title=Lorde Drops 'No Better': Hear The 'Pure Heroine' Leftover|publisher=Idolator|access-date=2014-05-22|first=Carl|last=Williott|date=2013-12-13}} and "pulsing" synthesisers in its instrumentation,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/lorde-breezes-through-seasons-on-no-better-20131213|title=Lorde Breezes Through Seasons In 'No Better'|magazine=Rolling Stone|first=Eric|last=Danton|date=2013-12-13|access-date=2014-05-22|archive-date=2018-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405214840/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/lorde-breezes-through-seasons-on-no-better-20131213|url-status=dead}} making the song's melody "dreamy", according to Whitney Phaneuf of HitFix.{{cite web|url=http://www.hitfix.com/news/lorde-raps-about-teenage-lust-on-surprise-new-single-no-better|title=Lorde raps about teenage lust on surprise new single 'No Better'|work=HitFix|first=Whitney|last=Phaneuf|date=2013-12-13|access-date=2014-05-22}} Lyrically, the song features Lorde "[celebrating] an infatuation that deepens as the seasons change". At the first verse, she sings "We roll in every summer when there's strength in our numbers / And your breath's hot and gross but I kiss you like a lover". During the chorus the bass beat becomes more intense as Lorde sings "Go all the way / Have your fun, have it all".

Marc Hogan from Spin wrote that the song "flits between fairly vivid first-person details", while Whitney Phaneuf from HitFix labelled "No Better" a "sexy" track. Eric Danton of Rolling Stone opined that the lyrics of the song are "girlish and knowing". Writing for Slate, L. V. Anderson shared that "No Better" is reminiscent of some of the best tracks on Pure Heroine, but also "lighter, simpler [...] and more confectionary than most of her debut album", in spite of its dark theme.{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/12/13/lorde_s_no_better_a_light_confectionary_contender_for_song_of_the_summer.html|title=Lorde's 'No Better': A light, confectionary contender for song of the summer|work=Slate|first=L. V.|last=Anderson|date=2013-12-13|access-date=2014-05-22}} "No Better" entered the New Zealand Artists Singles Chart at number seven on 23 December 2013. It dropped to number nineteen the following week,{{cite web |url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/aotearoa-singles/2013-12-27 |title=Top 20 New Zealand Singles Chart |publisher=Recorded Music NZ |date=30 December 2013 |access-date=21 June 2014}} before falling out of the chart.{{cite web |url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/aotearoa-singles/2014-01-03 |title=Top 20 New Zealand Singles Chart |publisher=Recorded Music NZ |date=6 January 2014 |access-date=21 June 2014}}

• Digital download

1. "No Better" – 2:50
2. "Royals" {{small|(music video)}} – 4:03

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Category:2010s ballads

Category:2013 singles

Category:2013 songs

Category:Electropop ballads

Category:Lorde songs

Category:Songs written by Lorde

Category:Songs written by Joel Little

Category:Trip hop songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Joel Little