Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)

Album

Single

Label

Self Released

Genre

Country

Media Type

CD

Composer(s)

Max McNown;Jamie Kenney;Trenton Kelly Dabbs;Ava Suppelsa

Entered Chart

Jun 14, 2025

Peak Date

Jan 31, 2026

Released

November 15, 2024

Recorded

2024

"Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)" is about the transformative power of love. Max McNown tells the story of meeting a girl so grounded and kind, it inspires him to become a better version of himself. The song came to life in May 2024 during a writing session in Nashville with songwriters Ava Suppelsa (Home Free's "Lonely Girl's World," Stephen Lee Olsen's "Relationship Goals"), Trent Dabbs (Ingrid Michaelson's "Girls Chase Boys," Kacey Musgraves' "High Horse") and producer Jamie Kenney (Colbie Caillat, Fletcher). McNown had just begun a long-distance relationship and was still in that dreamy, vulnerable stage. He was living in Oregon at the time, and as he talked about his girlfriend - her kindness, her depth, her steady presence - the song began to take shape. The opening line, "I didn't know you'd have brown eyes," was something McNown had already scribbled down before the session. It's the only physical description in the whole song. Everything else is emotional: his girl is described as spiritual and grounded. Suppelsa steered the writing session toward contrast. If the chorus was all light and love, the verses had to show the shadows that came before: nights of too much drinking, a fear of commitment, and a tendency to keep an emotional distance. McNown admitted that for a long time he'd been a toe-dipper in life. That line made it into the second verse, conjuring images of someone standing on the edge, unwilling to dive in. The first demo was recorded in Jamie Kenney's Berry Hill studio in Nashville. They kept it simple: lo-fi, layered acoustic guitars, some homemade percussion, and a raw vocal take that, for all its imperfections, felt genuine. McNown would go on to re-record the vocal three more times as his voice and confidence developed. Jamie Kenney ultimately used much of that very first scratch vocal because it had a certain freshness they couldn't recreate. Max McNown stumbled into his falsetto voice. "Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)" was the first time he ventured that high into his register, and though he hadn't taken any formal vocal lessons, the sound somehow worked. It had fragility and soul and, above all, honesty. It was also, by McNown's own account, a bit of a nightmare. "I couldn't even sing it all the way through without messing up," he admitted to Billboard. But the melody naturally pulled him into falsetto territory, and he stuck with it. Kenney played organ, bass and drums in the final version as well as contributing background vocals. Todd Lombardo contributed mandolin and rubber-bridge acoustic guitar; Aaron Sterling provided the drums; and Jedd Hughes added electric guitars. The song's title was altered late on thanks to TikTok. As McNown began teasing clips of the chorus on the app, people started associating the song with the lyric "brown eyes." Eventually, they added it to the title, in parentheses, to make it easier to find. Max McNown didn't intend to release "Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)" as a single. It was his manager, who is also his uncle, who convinced him to do so, believing in the song's potential and urging McNown to share it more widely. That nudge proved well-placed: "Better Me For You (Brown Eyes)" became his first Hot 100 hit.

Love was a game I played dealer's choice
In the back of a bar all summer
Forgetting names like background noise
In relationships I wanted none of

Went off the rails by fall
Lord knows I needed savin
Wore off the alcohol
And you were there like an angel waiting

I didn't know you'd have brown eyes
Like to pray to Jesus spending Friday nights at home
Didn't know you'd be the strong kind
Deeper than a coal mine lovin with a heart of gold

You're everything that I'm not, everything that I want
There's a God n' baby you're proof
In those those brown eyes, I know that I got to find
A better me for you

Made a living dipping toes in the water
Feelin low with my walls up high
I was staying far away from the deep end
Girl like you made a boy like me try

Went off the rails that fall
Lord knows I needed savin
Made me forget them all

I didn't know you'd have brown eyes
Like to pray to Jesus spending Friday nights at home
Didn't know you'd be the strong kind
Deeper than a coal mine lovin with a heart of gold

You're everything that I'm not, everything that I want
There's a God n' baby you're proof
In those those brown eyes, I know that I got to find
A better me for you

Don't worry about the miles that it takes we can make
Every one of them worth all the drivin
I'll sing your praises every way like the hymnals all say
I could love you til the end of time
And

I never knew you'd have brown eyes
Liked to pray to Jesus spendin Friday nights at home
Never knew you'd be the strong kind
Deeper than a coal mine lovin with heart of gold

You're everything that I'm not, everything that I want
There's a God n' baby you're proof
In those those brown eyes, I know that I got to find
A better me for you
A better me for you
Oh I got to find
I want to find
A better me for you
A better me for you