Songfacts®:

• Tori Amos wrote this Christmas tune in the midst of a stressful 2020 as the world was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic and Americans dealt with a particularly turbulent presidential election. The song also brought a message of hope as folks were struggling with sacrificing their holiday traditions to combat the virus.
  
  "With 'Better Angels' I wanted to acknowledge the year we have all been through and know that there is hope," she explained in a press release. "We can find that hope within ourselves if we continue to focus our collective minds and souls. We are slowly starting to find a clearer path to transform together for the better of all."
• This was the first track released to promote Amos' four-track holiday EP, Christmastide. The alt-rock singer released a full-length Christmas album, Midwinter Graces, in 2009.
• Amos is joined by her longtime collaborators, drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Jon Evans.
• Amos issued a winter-themed animated lyric video, which features her cartoon counterpart, to accompany the song.
• The vinyl features illustrations by graphic artist Rantz Hoseley, who also edited Comic Book Tattoo, a 2008 anthology graphic novel based on Amos' music.