Mr Little Jeans Shares “Better with You” From ‘Better Days’ Album (Out June 3)
March 11, 2022 BY Penny Palmer
Norwegian musician Mr Little Jeans will release Better Days on June 3 via Nettwerk – an album that is a testament to Birkenes’ strength as a songwriter and vocalist and dives into undoing the trauma and disgrace that life heaps upon each of us from a young age. It’s a record about fighting to get through and the sunlight that awaits on the other side. The definitive document by a pop artist whose absence has been sorely felt, it’s a testament, an album defined by virtuosity and spirit.
Out today, the stunning “Better with You” is a piece of gossamer ambient-R&B, powered by delicate harmonies that point to the song’s sweetness. Written about the exhilarating early stages of a relationship, it speaks to Birkenes’ symbiosis with her co-writers, Drew McFadden and Leon Jean-Marie. “I’m at my most creative and honest when I’m writing with people I know and trust,” Birkenes recalls. “It also helps if I can boss them around and be vocal about what I want, which is what I did most days.“
Watch “Better with You” Visualizer HERE:
Produced by a team of talent including longtime collaborators McFadden and Jean-Marie, alongside Tim Anderson (Banks, Halsey) and Aron Forbes (Billie Eilish, King Princess, Olivia Rodrigo), the albumis altogether a more dynamic, more hair-raising record, complete with shuddering bass synth, ice-cold trap drums, and a surprising, enveloping sense of space.
The album plays like a true emotional journey, and arrives towards the tail end of a tumultuous few years in which her entire life was thrown into disarray, but, as ever, music offered a path back from the brink: a way to reinterpret the nightmares that had plagued Birkenes’ life and a way to reaffirm the creativity that’s always been a guiding light. The album’s title is a tonic — a reminder that, even in times of darkness, better days can be found.
“The record might come across darker as I’ve come more into my own,” Birkenes says. “I like to acknowledge the darker side of things in my music, but ‘Better Days’ is cautiously optimistic. It’s very much me through and through.”
Track List:
- In Spite Of Me
- Blitz
- Forgetter
- Lazy Love
- Better with You
- Paper Vows
- After Midnight
- Better Days
- Intentions
- Jump to Fall