Songfacts®:

• Written during the COVID pandemic, this uplifting pop ballad finds Dermot Kennedy assuring us that better days are ahead.
  
  I know you've been hurtin'
  Waitin' on a train that just won't come
  The rain, it ain't permanent
  And soon we'll be dancin' in the sun
  
  Kennedy is urging us to persevere and push on through our troubles, as something brighter is waiting for us on the other side.
• The track comes with the kind of optimism and hopeful message Kennedy has included in his lyrics throughout his career. Since his breakthrough single "Outnumbered," where Kennedy tells someone feeling overwhelmed that things will get better, he has sought to provide support and solace to his listeners.
  
  Kennedy said: "As an artist, I feel somewhat responsible to try to make people feel a little better, whether that's making them think of someone they love, or just taking their mind off their problems for the length of a song."
• Kennedy wrote the song with:
  
  Frequent Shawn Mendes collaborator Scott Harris. The American songwriter also helped the Irish singer pen his breakthrough singles "Outnumbered," "Power Over Me" and "Giants."
  
  English songwriter Sam Romans, who has also co-written hits for Naughty Boy ("Home"), Clean Bandit ("Tears") and Jonas Blue "Rise."
  
  Olivia Rodrigo's songwriting partner Dan Nigro produced the track.
• Kennedy told BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac that when he originally penned the song in February 2021, "It almost felt as if it was someone speaking to me say, eight years ago when I had nothing going on, and so felt a bit dead, and it became a bit frustrated."
  
  He added that the original production was very safe, with just piano and strings. Kennedy wanted to fix that, and when Dan Nigro came up with a version featuring a Gaelic backing choir, he took it to another level. The Irish singer admitted he panicked at first, but now he "can't hear it any other way."
• Dermot Kennedy released "Better Days" as the lead single from his second studio album, Sonder, on July 28, 2021. The record's title is a relatively new word that Kennedy came across back in his days of playing open mics and busking.
  
  "I found the word 'sonder' a few years ago, the meaning being just the awareness that everybody is living a life just as important and as complex as your own," he told Billboard of his sophomore LP's title. "At that point, I didn't really have any part of my life or career to attach it to, so it was just a word that I appreciated and it meant something to me."
• Kennedy's debut album, Without Fear, topped both the UK and Ireland album charts and launched him as an international star. The Irish singer-songwriter told Billboard that in making Sonder, he tried to "unlock the same honesty and power of a feeling" as his debut record. "You have to say something worthwhile and prove that you deserve to be around, and there's added pressure in that sense," he explained.