Matt Stell’s ‘Better Than That’ Is a Different Kind of Love Song

Matt Stell will release the Better Than That EP this fall, and the new collection from the rising country singer includes the title track that’s a barroom love song from an entirely different angle than most.

Catchy enough to have listeners raising their glasses and singing along, “Better Than That” takes a refreshingly empowering approach to courtship that finds the woman of the narrator’s attention beleaguered by an unwelcome presence at the bar. In the song, Stell says she’s too good for the handsy swain:

“You ain’t a shot of Jager from a stranger at a dive bar / His hands all on your body on the dance floor / Try’n first kiss you up against the wall / I know you better than that / It ain’t the move, ain’t what you do / He don’t know the first thing about you / I know you better than that / Yeah, I know you better than that.”

The lovelorn tune is one of the rare upshots of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Stell — and numerous other musicians like him — have found themselves with a wholly new amount of downtime now that in-person concerts are nil and time to write is abundant, as the singer recently indicated.

“I think the silver lining to quarantine and being off of the road is that I’ve been able to focus on writing and becoming more creative,” Stell says of the eight songs that make up Better Than That. “I’m really proud of these new songs, so it’s exciting to finally get them out to the fans.”

In addition to “Better Than That,” the forthcoming effort features a grip of the crooner’s recent hits. Those include “If I Was a Bar,” “Everywhere But On” and Stell’s first-ever No. 1 single on country radio, “Prayed for You.”

The Better Than That EP arrives on Oct. 16 by way of Records LLC and Arista Nashville. Listen to the title track above, and see the cover art and tracklisting below. Click here to pre-save and pre-order the EP.

Matt Stell’s Better Than That EP Tracklist:

1. “Everywhere But On” (Written by Matt Stell, Paul Sikes, Lance Miller)
2. “If I Was a Bar” (Dan Isbell, Zack Kale, Jonathan Singleton)
3. “Prayed for You” (Ash Bowers, Matt Stell, Allison Veltz-Cruz)
4. “Better Than That” (Joe Fox, Phil Barton, Matt Stell)
5. “I Love You, Too” (Seth Alley, Matt Stell, Ryan Peterson)
6. “Sadie” (Nate Cyphert, Sam Roman, Parrish Warrington, Diederik van Elsas)
7. “Chase It Down” (Jarrod Ingram, Blake Hubbard, Brian Maher, Matt Stell)
8. “Look at Me Now” (Joe Fox, Seth Ennis, Thomas Finchum)