‘Single Dude’ Lance Carpenter Sings to His Future Love on ‘Better Than Me’ [Exclusive Premiere]

From the sound of his new single “Better Than Me,” it would be safe to assume that country crooner Lance Carpenter has someone in his life that he is head over heels for.

But music can be deceiving.

“This song is for whoever she is in the future for me,” he says with a chuckle while talking about the endearing song whose lyric video premieres exclusively on Taste of Country. “I basically thought about what I would want to sing to my significant other when I find her, because I'm a single dude.”

Carpenter and Justin Wilson co-wrote “Better Than Me,” which tells the story of someone looking to find a mate who will make them a better person in the long run.

“I'm a hopeless romantic,” remarks Carpenter, who played football while attending Arkansas Tech University. “My grandparents were married 72 years, and that doesn't happen anymore. And it's one of those things that when I look for the future Mrs. Carpenter, what is it that I want to find in that relationship?"

He pauses before concluding, "I want to find someone who makes me better every day.”

The memories of his grandparents live within the heart of the country music singer-songwriter, who achieved his first No. 1 hit as a co-writer on Kelsea Ballerini's single “Love Me Like You Mean It.” 

“I was adopted, and my mom and dad divorced when I was one, so I knew divorce early,” says Carpenter, who grew up on the sounds of George Strait. “But with my grandparents, they were best friends, and they had a lot of the same interests. They played golf together, they traveled together and every night they would play dominoes.”

The table at which the couple played still stands there to this day.

“My grandpa's talked about wanting to redo it and get it fixed, but I always say, ‘Don’t do that,’” explains Carpenter, whose grandma died last April. “There's 70 years of memories there that's perfectly imperfect ... They were the Webster's definition of love for me.”

He’s still looking for that love for himself.

“The more you grow up, the more you realize what matters in a person," Carpenter concludes. “I learned from all the experiences of each person that I dated. They each taught me a little bit more about either what I wanted or what I didn't. I think I've put myself in a position to where now when the right thing comes along, I’ll know it.”