"Music Sounds Better with U" is a song by American boy band

Big Time Rush ''Big Time Rush'' is an American musical sitcom television series created by Scott Fellows that originally aired on Nickelodeon from November 28, 2009, to July 25, 2013, featuring the band Big Time Rush portrayed as a fictional version of th ...

from their second studio album, '' Elevate''. The song features American rapper

Mann Mann may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama * Mann (chess), a variant chess piece * ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine * Mann (rapper), Dijon Shariff Thames (born 19 ...

. "Music Sounds Better With U" was leaked two weeks before its official release, which was on November 1, 2011, as the first single from ''Elevate''. Columbia Records released the song to US mainstream radio on November 15, 2011.

Background

"Music Sounds Better with U" premiered via

On Air with Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday radio syndication, syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles contemporary hit radio, Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM a ...

on October 21, 2011, before it was released on November 1, as the lead single from '' Elevate'', via digital download.

Composition

The band co-wrote "Music Sounds Better with U" with

Noel Zancanella Noel Patrick Zancanella is an American record producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He has written and produced songs for rock and pop artists such as Taylor Swift, OneRepublic, Maroon 5, B.o.B., Gym Class Heroes, Gavin DeGr ...

Eric Bellinger Eric Aldwin Bellinger Jr. (born March 27, 1984) is an American R&B singer and songwriter. He began songwriting in 2010, and has co-written singles including " Lemme See" by Usher, "New Flame" by Chris Brown, " Right Here" by Justin Bieber, " O ...

, and

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado, formed in 2002. The lineup currently consists of Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (guitar, viola), Drew Brown (musician), Drew Brown (guitar), Brent Kutzle ( ...

members

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

& Brent Kutzle. Production of the song was also handled by Tedder. On Big Time Radio, it was announced that before the final cut, there were around "nine or ten versions of the song". The track covers the chorus from the 1998 single "

Music Sounds Better with You "Music Sounds Better with You" is the only record by the French house trio Stardust, released on 20 July 1998. Stardust comprised the Daft Punk member Thomas Bangalter, the DJ Alan Braxe, and the vocalist Benjamin Diamond. Stardust formed for ...

" by Stardust. Logan Henderson also revealed that the track features a guitar sample from

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...

Critical reception

Jenna Hally Rubenstein of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

stated that the track "is a beyond addictive, polished and sugary pop song that's ready for da club... Tightly layered synths and guitars pair perfectly with the track's vocals." Kevin Apaza of Directlyrics called the song "a bit generic and dated," but still had praise for the track.

Chart performance

"Music Sounds Better with U" peaked at number 26 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

chart during a ten weeks chart run.

Music video

An accompanying music video premiered on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

on November 12, 2011.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Music Sounds Better with U" – 3:09 *UK CD single #"Music Sounds Better with U" – 3:09 #"Epic" – 3:27 #"Music Sounds Better with U" (instrumental) – 3:02 *UK digital download #"Music Sounds Better with U" – 3:09 #"Music Sounds Better with U" (instrumental) – 3:02

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2011 songs 2011 singles Big Time Rush songs Mann (rapper) songs Songs written by Ryan Tedder Songs written by Brent Kutzle Song recordings produced by Ryan Tedder Songs written by Noel Zancanella Columbia Records singles Songs written by Eric Bellinger Songs written by Thomas Bangalter Songs written by Frank Musker Songs about music