--- title: Taylor Swift's Newest Song Is A Single for Little Big Town description: "Better Man," performed by the country group Little Big Town, is the latest from Swift, who hasn't released music of her own since 2014. canonical: https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-01T20:33:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:16.560Z og:title: Taylor Swift's Newest Song Is A Single for Little Big Town og:description: "Better Man" is a ballad penned by Swift for the popular country group. og:url: https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd15d3d422fedeb10/6988ac8c196cf4c9dc03dcd6/taylor-swift.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taylor Swift's Newest Song Is A Single for Little Big Town twitter:description: "Better Man" is a ballad penned by Swift for the popular country group. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd15d3d422fedeb10/6988ac8c196cf4c9dc03dcd6/taylor-swift.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Taylor Swift's New Song Is a Single for Little Big Town, "Better Man" > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 1, 2016 8:33 PM UTC  Taylor Swift performs her only full concert of 2016 during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Taylor Swift performs her only full concert of 2016 during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Gary Miller—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 1, 2016 8:33 PM UTC Taylor Swift may [not have released an album](http://time.com/4446410/taylor-swift-label-album-october-nope/?iid=sr-link1) this fall (yet)—as fans [have been anticipating](http://time.com/4526914/taylor-swift-new-album-fall/?iid=sr-link2)—but the singer-songwriter certainly hasn’t let her hit-making talents languish, either. [In a Facebook Live](https://www.facebook.com/littlebigtown/videos/10155462164388677/) on Monday, the [Grammy-nominated](http://time.com/4138186/2016-grammy-nominations/?iid=sr-link4) country music group Little Big Town shared that Swift is the writer behind their latest single, “Better Man,” an emotional ballad about moving on in a relationship. It’s a simple, heartfelt song that harkens back to Swift’s old Nashville sound and roots. “I know I’m probably better off on my own / Than loving a man who didn’t know what he had when he had it / And I see the permanent damage you did to me / Never again, I just wish I could forget when it was magic,” it opens. Apparently, Swift and Little Big Town go way back: “We’ve known Taylor since she was in high school,” said group member Phillip Sweet. “She sent us this song, and it was one that was really special to her,” explained singer Karen Fairchild. “She thought of us because of the harmonies,” adding that the popular foursome knew as soon as they heard it that they would record it. “Immediately, we all had the same reaction,” Sweet said. They kept its origin under wraps, however, even keeping their label in the dark about the famous writer and referring to her only as a “young girl from Nashville.” It’s only now that Swift’s name being brought out publicly. This is not the first time that Swift has kept incognito about her involvement with a song, either. In July, [it was revealed](http://time.com/4404620/taylor-swift-wrote-this-is-what-you-came-for-calvin-harris-rihanna/?iid=sr-link2) that she had contributed to ex Calvin Harris’s hit with Rihanna, “This Is What You Came For,” under a pseudonym. On Tuesday, Swift confirmed that she was indeed behind “Better Man” with an Instagram post giving the group her support. “Feeling really honored that a band I’ve loved for so many years decided to record this song I wrote,” she noted in the caption. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/"},"headline":"Taylor Swift's New Song Is a Single for Little Big Town, \"Better Man\"","datePublished":"2016-11-01T20:33:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:16.560Z","description":"\"She sent us this song, and it was one that was really special to her\"","url":"https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd15d3d422fedeb10/6988ac8c196cf4c9dc03dcd6/taylor-swift.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd15d3d422fedeb10/6988ac8c196cf4c9dc03dcd6/taylor-swift.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas","caption":"Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas","creditText":"Gary Miller—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4553923/taylor-swift-little-big-town-better-man/","name":"Taylor Swift's New Song Is a Single for Little Big Town, \"Better Man\""}}]}] ```