Little Broken Hearts

This is the title track of American singer-songwriter Norah Jones' fifth studio album. The record was produced by Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton, who is notable for his production work with The Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley, and Beck, among others. The twosome initially got together in June 2009, when they jammed in Danger Mouse's Los Angeles studio prior to Jones completing her previous album, The Fall. The sessions were fruitful, but they then spent the next two years working separately on other projects before reconvening to work together on Burton's Rome record with Daniele Luppi.

Soon after that project was completed, the pair reconvened at the Gnarls Barkely producer's studio to finish up Little Broken Hearts. Jones brought several new tunes she'd penned in the wake of a difficult break-up with her writer boyfriend. Speaking to Rolling Stone, she said: "I always heard the old stories about how you write better songs when you go through some s--t. That sucks, but it's true!"

The duo performed the majority of the instrumental parts for the album: Jones played piano, keyboards, bass and guitar, and Danger Mouse added drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and string arrangements.

A vintage movie poster that Danger Mouse has hanging in his Los Angeles studio inspired the album cover. "Brian has this great collection of Russ Meyer posters in his studio, and this particular one, called Mudhoney, was right over the couch where I sat every day," recalled Jones. "I always was looking at it and thinking, 'That's so cool, I want to look like her!' I remember staring at the poster the whole time we made the record. It's a great visual."

"I love the song 'Little Broken Hearts' because the story it tells, it's this army of hearts coming in with their knives, going after the people who hurt them, who are so beautiful and asleep," Jones explained in the album's Spotify commentary. "It goes into the whole love is war thing. I just like the images in that song... I keep thinking about these little black cartoon hearts with knives in their arms, which is kinda scary, but also kinda funny and cute. That's why I called the album after this song. The image of the cute, creepy heart just fit with the whole record."