Treat You Better

Album: Solace (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • Making an album is hard work, especially when you're far away from home. Australian alt-dance trio Rüfüs Du Sol relocated to Los Angeles to produce their third studio release, Solace, and it became an all-consuming task that left little time for their relationships. On the fourth single, "Treat You Better," singer Tyrone Lindqvist dreams of reconnecting with his significant other and vows to treat her better.

    In a 2018 interview with Futuremag Music, drummer James Hunt described the song as "a nostalgic and bittersweet ode" to the band's loved ones.

    "At the time that wasn't the calculated theme, but it became apparent quite quickly that it was an anthem for ourselves towards our friends, family and partners," he elaborated. "We were almost neglecting that part of our lives. We were focusing on making music and there was no sense of balance. It was a promise to treat people better, and there's a sense of hope in that."
  • Rüfüs Du Sol worked out of small, makeshift studio spaces on their previous albums, but setting up shop in Los Angeles provided them with all the bells and whistles - and synthesizers - a band could want. The possibilities were endless... and overwhelming.

    "It pretty quickly became an unhealthy process," Hunt told Futuremag Music. "We were working till 6 a.m. every day and it started to become really exhausting. We felt like we were getting sucked into the vortex of it."

    But the experience ultimately enriched their songwriting. He continued, "We tried to channel that darkness rather than shy away from it. That was definitely a newer approach for us, trying to embrace the light and the dark so we have the full spectrum of emotion."
  • In a 2018 track-by-track interview with Billboard, the band explained they were originally going to hire a gospel choir to sing on the emotional outro, but invited their friends to perform on the track instead: "We realized we had so many talented friends with amazing voices around us. We invited them to the studio and just spent a full day playing and recording with them. It's so special to share this song with such a talented and kind-hearted group of people."
  • Peaking at #28, this is Rüfüs Du Sol's first Top 30 hit on the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
  • To be certain the album would have a West Coast vibe, the Australian trio took the songs out on the road, more specifically the highway.

    "We drove the Pacific Coast Highway listening to all the songs we'd recorded, both in the day and at night," Lindqvist told the crowd at Los Angeles State Historic Park in 2019. "Whatever songs sounded the best in that setting made it onto the album. We love California so much."

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