"I Can Love You Better" is a song written by Pamela Brown Hayes and Kostas and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

group

the Dixie Chicks The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Stra ...

. It was the first single released by the group to feature

Natalie Maines Natalie Louise Maines (born October 14, 1974) is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist for the country band the Chicks. In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their lead si ...

following their former lead vocalist Laura Lynch's departure from the group in 1995. The song premiered to

country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. T ...

on October 27, 1997, as the group's debut single and opening track from their fourth studio album and major label debut ''Wide Open Spaces'' (1998). Representing the group's first success, the song peaked at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart and was a minor hit on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

, peaking at number 77. The group performed the song on two of their tours, the 2000

Fly Tour The ''Fly Tour'' (2000) was the debut North American concert tour by country music band Dixie Chicks, The Chicks' (formerly the Dixie Chicks), performing sold-out shows in over 80 cities across Canada and the contiguous United States. The tour w ...

and the 2013 Long Time Gone Tour. The Dixie Chicks also performed a parody of the song, "No Letter Better Than B", on

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

Content

The song's narrator is assuring a man that she can love him better and make him forget his previous love.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

cited the track as "convincing" in his review of the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "I Can Love You Better" was directed by Chris Rogers. In it, the Dixie Chicks are shown performing the song while in an airport lobby. They are also shown sitting on an airport

baggage claim 200px, Baggage carousel In airport terminals, a baggage reclaim area is an area where arriving passengers claim checked-in baggage after disembarking from an airline flight. The alternative term baggage claim is used at airports in the US and ...

belt, in a bakery, and on a crowded sidewalk.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1997 debut singles 1997 songs The Chicks songs Songs written by Kostas (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Blake Chancey Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Monument Records singles