“Happy Pills” by Norah Jones

"Happy Pills" was the lead single from Norah Jones' fifth album, …Little Broken Hearts, out digitally on March 6, 2012, and it's the sound of a breakup that feels more like a jailbreak. Jones wrote it with Brian Burton, the producer who goes by Danger Mouse, and the song is about walking out of a relationship and finding she's better off on her own.

Burton produced it and plays drums and synthesizer himself; Jones handles electric guitar and piano, with Dan Elkan and Blake Mills adding more electric guitar and Jonathan Hischke on bass. The result is gritty and bluesy, with a playful pop bounce that sounds nothing like heartbreak. It caught even its makers off guard: Jones said the two of them couldn't stop singing it, and once they heard it back it had to go on the record. Critics mostly liked it, and plenty pointed to the chemistry between the pair.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.