Little Big Town reveal Taylor Swift is mystery songwriter behind new tune

Country stars Little Big Town have revealed Taylor Swift wrote their new song.

The Girl Crush singers opened up about the brains behind Better Man on Tuesday morning (01Nov16), while announcing their upcoming 2017 residency at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in Tennessee.

"Some of you have been asking and we told you that there was a young girl in Nashville that wrote it by herself, and it's Taylor Swift," Karen Fairchild told reporters gathered at the Ryman. "She sent us this song and it was one that was really special to her, and she thought of us because of the harmonies.

"She's never pitched the song to anyone before and the moment that we heard it we were like, 'Man, that is a song that we're going to cut'."

"This one just felt special," bandmate Phillip Sweet added. "We've known Taylor since she was in high school. She's a dear friend of ours. The song speaks for itself and that's what we thought when we heard it, no matter who wrote it. It feels like it was meant for us to go with this emotion. It felt like it belonged to us and we made it our own."

"Everybody has a better man," Fairchild continued. "It might have been a lover or a parent that disappointed you or a friend. The beauty of that storytelling is that we can all relate to being disappointed in someone but still loving them and saying, 'Hey, enough is enough. This would have been amazing if you had gotten your act together'. And, that's a fun song to sing."

Better Man is the first single from Little Big Town's upcoming album, The Breaker, which will be released in February (17).

It's not the first time Swift and Little Big Town have joined forces - back in 2015, the band appeared on the Love Story singer's 1989 tour.