Banks is well known for her electronically-influenced, haunting and emotional music, and new song ‘Better’ is no exception (not that you’d want it to be). Her first album, Goddess, revealed song after song dedicated to love, or rather the ending and ache of it, which goes to emphasise the honesty and meaning behind her music. A quick warning: don’t listen to this song unless you’re emotionally stable enough to withstand 3 minutes of heart-wrenching vocals and intense synth beats.
The lyrics to this song rival those in Adele’s new track, with Banks (actually named Jillian Banks) seeming to spill out her soul and heart-break every time she belts out “I can love you better than she can”. The whole song smoulders with passion and raw feeling. The simplicity of the backing music only serves to pave the way for her incredibly strong and husky voice. Banks is pairing up with The Weeknd on his upcoming US tour, which is a pretty dreamy combination – and hopefully with the release of this breath-taking new single, an album is on its way, and with that, an international tour?
Words by Bethy Lees