[1][2] SZA wrote the song alongside Jacob Collier, who provides background vocals, and with producers Carter Lang, Los Hendrix, and Nascent.

[4] "Good Days" was originally featured at the tail end of the music video for "Hit Different", released in September 2020, leading to speculation among listeners that it would serve as a B-side to that single.

[9] In the two-year touring period, she recorded the lead single "Good Days" in 2018 with Lang at her Malibu house,[10] following a guitar and drums demo from Los Hendrix and Nascent one year prior.

[13] Dubbed a "nostalgic track",[14] "Good Days" sees SZA singing about "former love, soul searching, and rejoicing carefreely" over "guitar-tinged riff plays",[15][16] while she makes use of her "dreamy vocals".

[17] Compared to its predecessor, the song "manages to hit much more of a melodic, narrative-driven tone that puts it more in line with her Ctrl output".

[22] The song later reached a new peak at number nine on the Hot 100; it became SZA's first top-10 entry in a lead credit and her third overall, following "What Lovers Do"[note 1] and "All the Stars".

On January 13, 2021, SZA tweeted a request for fans to submit videos of their "happiest, saddest, [and] YOUR UGLIEST moments" to an email address, with a deadline of Saturday at midnight.

It features scenes of SZA dancing while buried waist up in an oversized Alice in Wonderland-inspired garden and pole-dancing in a library.