Tyler Rich Reveals How ‘Better Than You’re Used To’ Was ‘Therapy’ For Him & Wife Sabina
In this EXCLUSIVE interview, Tyler Rich opens up about being inspired by his wife, Sabina Gadecki, to write his romantic new love song, 'Better Than You're Used To.'
Like most of Tyler Rich’s music, the singer’s latest release, “Better Than You’re Used To,” was inspired by his wife, Sabina Gadecki. Tyler released the track just before Valentine’s Day, after he posted a demo version on TikTok and it blew up overnight. However, he actually penned the track months earlier, in June 2020, and told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY how Sabina’s past inspired it.
“Sabina had been through some stuff with her exes and kind of had a bad run at love,” Tyler explained. “It was really slow a the beginning for us because she was going through some stuff. [The song] is just about meeting somebody and you know they deserve to be loved better than they’re used to. It’s reminding people of their worth and self love and to fight for how you deserve to be treated. It’s just an anthem for those who are heartbroken and made it through it. The song was written as therapy for me and my wife, but watching it connect with so many people in their own lives makes the whole music thing worth it.”
Tyler Rich and Sabina Gadecki at the ACM Awards. (AP)
Tyler and Sabina met when they both attended Stagecoach Music Festival in 2016. Tyler proposed just over a year later in July 2017, and they finally tied the knot in Sept. 2019. With Tyler being based in Nashville while pursuing a career in country music, and Sabina living in Los Angeles, where she works as an actress, the two have spent most of their relationship living apart. However, 2020 and the coronavirus outbreak provided them with the opportunity to spend more time together.
“For us, it was normal that we’d see each other for five days and then not see each other for seven,” Tyler admitted. “We were kind of on this rotation. Then we got to spend this whole year being a regular married couple and getting to know each other more and what it’s like to actually be married people. We’re a little scared and interested to see what happens when regular life picks up again. We haven’t been apart from each other yet this whole year. I think there’s going to be a neediness there that we haven’t experienced in our relationship before.”
Tyler Rich and his wife, Sabina, at the CMA Awards. (AP)
Check out more of our interview with Tyler below! “Better Than You’re Used To,” along with Tyler’s debut album, Two Thousand Miles, are available to stream and download now.
How did you go from releasing a demo of ‘Better Than You’re Used To’ to the full version? It was actually king of an overnight thing. That song was written in June and it was something we were all super excited about, but my first album was already figured out. This was just one of the many songs I wrote during COVID that was in my back pocket. I’d been doing these. TikTok car karaoke videos on a long road trip, just to gauge the crowd. As soon as it hit over a million views overnight, the next morning, the label had already hit me up and said, ‘We’re going to record this and drop it before Valentine’s Day.”
When you write a song, you rarely get that quick of a payoff. I was ecstatic. I love the song and I was passionate about it. It was a song that, especially coming up to Valentine’s Day, a lot of people were relating to. We knew it was important to get it out as soon as possible.
Despite being stuck at home and not being able to play shows, how has your career progressed during the past year? For sure writing [new music] was positive. I learned a lot about the skill of writing and the process. I really sat back and figured out what I wanted chapter to to be like. I got to be home with my wife, and on top of that, learned a little bit about production and tracking and all that on the technical side, which has been great.
But on the social media side — we don’t have shows and crowds who we can test music on every night. We can’t see people party and celebrate and have a good time when we play a song. So getting to use social media and discover this new platform, TIkTok, and finally use Instagram Live — it’s been a year of learning new tools and using those tools to really connect with my fans. A good song is a good song, but a connection is what’s most important. When I tour again, meet and greets will be even more special.
Do you have plans for what’s next? We’re just going to ride out “Better Than You’re Used To” a little bit. We have lots of great, great, great new music from the past two years. I still haven’t toured since I put out the first album, so from a live show perspective, there will be a lot of new music, regardless. I’ve always got some stuff, but maybe it will be another TikTok video that makes the next one come out!
