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"Better in Time" is a song written by J. R. Rotem and Andrea Martin and produced by Rotem for Leona Lewis's debut album, Spirit (2007). It is the fourth track on the album (second track on the U.S. release), and was released in March 2008 as Lewis's third single in the United Kingdom, as a double A-side with "Footprints in the Sand". It was later released as Lewis's second international single following her debut hit "Bleeding Love". It was originally to be released in the United States on 17 June 2008, but was pushed back to 15 July 2008.

The single was released in the UK as a digital download on 9 March 2008, with a physical release on the following day, in aid of Sport Relief. The song was remixed with an extended piano instrumental before the beat came in for the single release. "Better in Time" was BBC Radio 2's record of the week from 11 February 2008.

It has so far become a top ten hit in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Lewis's native UK, its sold enough copies to be certified Silver. As well as being a quiet success in the US peaking at eleven on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has been nominated for a Brit Award, for Best British Single.

Promotion

Lewis first performed the song live on Dancing on Ice on 9 March 2008. Lewis also performed both sides of the single on BBC One's Sport Relief on 14 March as well as on Good Morning America on 4 April 2008 and Jimmy Kimmel Live! along with "Bleeding Love". In April 2008, during her promotional tour of Australia, Lewis performed the song live on various breakfast and news shows.

On 2 September 2008, Lewis performed the song on Good Morning America following up the next day with a performance on Live with Regis and Kelly. She also performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Ellen Degeneres Show during the week of 8 September. Finally, on 1 October 2008 the song was performed on the season finale of America's Got Talent to finish off the U.S. promotion for the song.

The song was featured in the 90210 episode entitled "Lucky Strike", originally aired on 9 September 2008. On 24 November 2008, Lewis performed a special remix of the song at the 2008 American Music Awards. The remix had an acoustic start before going into a more rock-sounding version.

Reception

In its review of the album, The Korea Times described "Better in Time" as "one of the best tracks with impressive piano sounds harmonized with her powerful vocals." Digital Spy was less favourable, calling it a "placid affair" with "its plinky-plonky piano and R&B groove resting uncomfortably next to Lewis's creamy vocal style". Rolling Stone magazine gave the single 3 stars, saying Lewis' "butter-smooth voice" delivers the lyrics with plenty of drama. The BBC's reviewer described "Better in Time" as "very pretty and seems extremely nice in a generational-gap-transcending manner but doesn't actually do anything."

Ahead of its U.S. release, Billboard stated that "Better in Time" is of "equal caliber to its predecessor , with a one-listen hook, elegant chug-along melody, a lyric about healing and Lewis' unquestionably emotive vocal versatility."

It ranked at number four on the "10 Best Singles of 2008" list by American magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Chart performance

"Better in Time"/"Footprints in the Sand" debuted at number seventy-four on the UK Singles Chart on 24 February, three weeks before its physical release, but fell out of the chart the following week. "Better in Time" debuted at number thirty-eight as its own single, and reached a peak position of number twenty-three. When the physical single was released, the double A-side single jumped twenty-one places to number two on the UK Singles Chart. It sold 40,476 copies and was held off the top spot by Duffy's "Mercy", which sold 302 copies more. The single became the UK's thirty-eighth best-selling single of 2008. The double A-side went on to sell 200,000 copies, qualifying the single to attain Silver status.

In Australia, "Better in Time" debuted at number thirty-two based solely on download sales, and in its second week ascended to number twenty-one and was named one of the bullet performers for that week. "Better in Time" ascended eleven places to number ten in its third week becoming Leona's second top ten single there, and eventually reached its peak at number six two weeks later. It debuted at number thirty-four on the RIANZ Chart on 17 March 2008, eventually climbing to number nine in five weeks, and by its sixth week had climbed to number six, thereby becoming her second consecutive top ten hit in New Zealand, and was also certified Gold after twenty weeks with sales of over 7,500. "Better in Time" was also a success in Europe, and as a result has reached a peak position of number three on the European Hot 100 Singles.

In April 2008, "Better in Time" debuted at number twenty-four on the U.S. Hot Digital Songs, and entered the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart week of 26 April 2008 at number sixty-two as a result of the digital downloads which accumulated in the week of Spirit's North American release before dropping out of the chart the following week. The song also peaked at number forty-five on the Billboard Pop 100. "Better in Time" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number seventy-five following its official release there, and reached a new peak of number forty-four on the Pop 100 the same week. The following week "Better in Time" ascended to a new peak of number sixty-one on the Hot 100 and has peaked at number eleven (after reaching the Top 40 on August 12, 2008). It has also peaked at number four on the Pop 100 to date. It has become a top five hit on both the Pop 100 Airplay and the Mainstream Top 40 charts. The song also peaked four at the U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and spent 52 weeks on the chart.

Music video

The music video was filmed at Hampton Court House School in London by acclaimed British director Sophie Muller in February 2008. The video is inspired by fashion design, and features Lewis performing in front of "unrelated photographic set-ups", and showing what goes on behind the scenes. Parts of the video also feature Lewis with a horse.

For the U.S. release, the "Better in Time" music video was slightly changed. The scenes featuring Lewis with a horse were replaced with additional shots from the other parts of the video. It first premiered in the U.S. on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown on 28 June 2008, following the week of 17 June 2008 when the single was first expected to be released. The following week it debuted at number two and since then it has peaked at number one five times on the countdown. On 19 July, 16 August, 6 September, 27 September, and 8 November 2008 it reached the number-one spot on the countdown. On VH1's year-end Top 40, the video was ranked at number twenty-two. The number-one spot went to Lewis's other video, "Bleeding Love".

Track listings and formats

UK/Australian CD 1

1. "Better in Time" (Single Mix) (Jonathan Rotem, Andrea Martin) – 3:54
2. "Footprints in the Sand" (Single Mix) (Richard Page, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Simon Cowell) – 3:58
3. "You Bring Me Down" (Salaam Remi, Taj Jackson, Leona Lewis) – 3:54

Australian CD 2

1. "Better in Time" (Single Mix) – 3:54
2. "Footprints in the Sand" – 4:08
3. "Bleeding Love" (Moto Blanco Remix Radio Edit) – 3:43
4. "Better in Time" (Video)

Note: The Australian CD 2 Exclusive was scheduled released on 5 July 2008, almost three months after the CD 1 was released, on 19 April 2008.

U.S. promo CD single

1. "Better in Time" (Album Version) – 3:54
2. "Better in Time" (U.K. Version) – 3:55
3. "Better in Time" (Call Out Hook) – 0:10

Remixes

1. "Jason Nevins Radio Edit"
2. "Jason Nevins Extended Mix"
3. "Eddie Baez Mix"

Release history

Charts

"Better in Time"/"Footprints in the Sand"

"Better in Time"

References

1. ^ http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/ChartsPlusYE2008.pdf
2. Spirit (Media notes). Sony BMG. 2007. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |publisherid= ignored (help)
3. "New single announcement!". LeonaLewisMusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
4. "Sign up for the Sport Relief Mile". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
5. "New single announcement", Leona Lewis mailing list (2008-02-01). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
6. "Radio news". Sony BMG. 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2008-02-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "Leona Lewis' blades of glory". The Sun. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-02-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. "Album Reviews". The Korea Times. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2008-01-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. Fletcher, Alex. "Leona Lewis: 'Better in Time' / 'Footprints in the Sand'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
10. Nicole Frehsee, Rolling Stone, July 10-24, 2008
11. "Leona Lewis - 'Better In Time'". BBC. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Taylor, Chuck (2008-07-12). "Leona Lewis - Better In Time". Billboard.
13. "10 Best Singles of 2008". Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly and Time, Inc. 2008-12-18.
14. Music Week (2008-03-21). "Did Duffy win fair and square?". Retrieved 2008-07-31. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
15. "The Official UK Singles Chart of 2008". BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
16. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Leona+Lewis&titel=Better+In+Time&cat=s
17. Billboard Hot 100 - Music Charts
18. Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
19. http://www.billboard.com/charts/adult-contemporary#/charts/adult-contemporary?chartDate=2009-10-24
20. Better in Time - behind the scenes. Retrieved 2008-02-15. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |date2= (help)
21. "Grammy Party!". LeonaLewisMusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
22. Allen, Liam (2008-02-15). "Lewis makes footprints in States". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. Harmsworth, Andrei (2008-02-15). "Leona saddles up for chart success". Metro. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
24. http://www.sonybmg.com.au/cd/releaseDetails.do?catalogueNo=88697307842
26. "European Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
27. "Leona Lewis - Better in Time / Footprints In The Sand". Onet.pl Blog. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
28. ^ "Leona Lewis – Better In Time – Music Charts". αCharts.us. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
29. ^ "Leona Lewis – Better In Time – swisscharts.com". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
30. Czech Top 100
31. Romanian Top 100 – 21/2008
32. Slovak Top 100

External links

• Official website
• "Better in Time"/"Footprints in the Sand" at AllMusic
• "Better in Time" at AllMusic
• "Better in Time" (2 tracks) at AllMusic

• 2000s ballads
• 2007 songs
• 2008 singles
• Charity singles
• Leona Lewis songs
• Music videos directed by Sophie Muller
• Pop ballads
• Rhythm and blues ballads
• Songs produced by J. R. Rotem