Released June 10, 2002 Genre Pop rock Label Arista | Recorded November 2001 Length 3:57 | |
Format Download
CD single
maxi | ||
"Just Like a Pill" is a song by American singer Pink. It was written and produced by Dallas Austin and Pink for her second studio album, Missundaztood. The lyrics of the song deal with getting out of painful relationships, with a subtheme about drug abuse.
Contents
The song was released worldwide as the third single from Missundaztood in June 2002 and was a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It also performed well internationally, becoming her second number-one single in the United Kingdom and reaching the top 10 in, amongst other countries, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Background and writing
"Just Like a Pill" was written by Pink and Dallas Austin, who also produced and arranged the song. Pink said in an interview that the song shows "part of who I am", referring to her documented problems with drugs.
Critical response
The song was generally well received by contemporary music critics. NME called it "the third best track off her killer last album". Drowned In Sound's Robert Luckett commented that it is "a fascinating record...this is a record with a edge, a kind of pot boiling over at any moment, ready to go off at any time vibe." He also wrote "it obeys the pop industry's well-dusted rules for a hit." Stylus Magazine's Todd Burns, in his review of the album, compared "Just Like a Pill" to the other singles from the album, "Don't Let Me Get Me" and "Get the Party Started", writing "The guitars... sound much more integrated into the work and the overall song works far better."
The song was shortlisted by Digital Spy as a nominee for the best single of 2002, finishing third in the vote to Red Hot Chili Peppers' "By the Way" and Liberty X's "Just a Little".
Chart performance
In the U.K, the song scored Pink her second number one single in that country, whilst peaking at number two in Austria, Ireland and New Zealand, and within the top 10 in many countries across the world including Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. It peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. In Australia, the song was a radio only single, in hopes of rising album sales. Although it was a #1 radio hit, a physical release never eventuated. In late June 2009, the song charted at #97 on downloads, most likely due to Pink's national tour.
Music video
The video for "Just Like a Pill" was directed by Francis Lawrence for LaFace Records. The video, shot in December 2001, is considerably different from Pink's previous videos. "Get the Party Started" and "Don't Let Me Get Me" were lighter in nature than the dark atmosphere which is reflected in the video for "Just like a Pill", an example of which is the fact that Pink can be seen throughout the whole video wearing black outfits with naked arms and legs and wearing black hair. Commenting on the different style of video, Pink said: "This one's very dark and artsy, and I have black hair, which is very fun. I loved it. It's another part that I haven't concentrated on before."
In the first scene, Pink lies on the floor. In the chorus she sings in front of her band. She is also featured in another scene with white rabbits around her in a room, and in another scene, she is seen with an elephant. There are also scenes with Pink singing in front of and amongst various people. In the latter half of the video, she runs in a hall whilst lip-synching the song, before disappearing into a bright doorway atop a staircase at the conclusion of the video.
After the elephant scene Pink decided to stop using animals for her videos. In an interview, she explained: "This poor elephant...a huge elephant, it's so cute, and I could see how painful it was for it to get down on its hands and knees, ... I didn't like it. I won't do that again. [...] No more animals."
The edited version of the video changes "Can't stay on your morphine, it's making me itch" to "Can't stay on your life support, it's making me itch", and changes "bitch" to "witch". Pink's mouth is only blurred once in the censored version as she says "bitch" at about 2 minutes 45 seconds in the video.