Happy (Pharrell Williams song)
"Happy" is a song written, produced, and performed by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams, released as the only single from the soundtrack album for the film Despicable Me 2 (2013). The song was first released on November 21, 2013, alongside a long-form music video. The song was reissued on December 16, 2013, by Back Lot Music under exclusive license to Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music.[1] The song also served as the lead single from Williams's second studio album, Girl (2014).
The official remix features American rapper Sky Blu of LMFAO.
"Happy" is an uptempo soul and neo soul song on which Williams's falsetto voice has been compared to Curtis Mayfield's by critics. The song has been highly successful, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and 19 other countries. It was the best-selling song of 2014 in the United States with 6.45 million copies sold for the year,[3] as well as in the United Kingdom with 1.5 million copies sold for the year.[4] It reached No. 1 in the UK on a record-setting three occasions and became the most downloaded song of all time in the UK in September 2014;[5] it is the eighth-highest-selling single of all time in the country.[6] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. A live rendition of the song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
The music video for "Happy" was nominated for Best Male Video and Video of the Year at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.[7][8] The song was Billboard's number-one single for 2014.
"Happy" was the most successful song of 2014, with 13.9 million units (sales plus equivalent streams) worldwide.[9]
Background[edit]
Williams provided vocals for French duo Daft Punk's 2013 album Random Access Memories, on the songs "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Get Lucky". After returning from the recording sessions in Paris, he attended a meeting with record label managers who said that the results were "spectacular" and that "Get Lucky" would be Daft Punk's next single. They also made Williams an offer to record his own album, to which he agreed quickly, "overwhelmed that someone wanted to know what's in my heart".[10]
On December 17, 2013, it was announced that Williams had signed to Columbia Records and would release his second studio album in 2014.[11]
Williams originally wrote the song for CeeLo Green and felt Green's recording of the song was better, but Elektra Records, Green's record label, decided against it since he was on the verge of releasing his Christmas album, Cee Lo's Magic Moment.[12][13][14][15]
Composition[edit]
"Happy" was written and produced by Williams, with backing vocals by Rhea Dummett, Trevon Henderson, Ashley L. Lee, Shamika Hightower, Jasmine Murray and Terrence Rolle.[16] The track was digitally edited and arranged by Andrew Coleman and Mike Larson, who also recorded it with assistance from Matthew Desrameaux at Circle House Studios in Miami, Florida. The song was later mixed by Leslie Brathwaite at Music Box Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.[16]
"Happy" plays for 3 minutes and 53 seconds[1] in common time and at a tempo of 156 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of F minor.[17] Williams sings the upper notes in falsetto; his vocal range spans from F3 to C5.[17] His singing on the track has been compared to that of Curtis Mayfield.[18][19]
"Happy" is a mid-tempo soul and neo soul song.[20][21] According to music journalist Paul Tingen, "Happy" is "a mid-tempo ... song in a faux-Motown style, with an arrangement that is, by modern standards, very sparse: programmed drums, one bass and one keyboard part, and handclaps both programmed and played, all topped off by Williams's lead vocals and a whole posse of backing vocals".[20] Jody Rosen viewed the song as a "standout" with a "sprightly neosoul funk groove".[18]
Chart performance[edit]
Netherlands[edit]
In October 2013, a month prior to its release, "Happy" catapulted to No. 1 on the Dutch Top 40 chart in the Netherlands, partially as a result of radio station 3FM airplay and subsequent online downloads, as well as featuring in a Transavia commercial.[28] It was released worldwide on November 21, 2013. In 2014, after 35 weeks on the charts and then still in the top 15, "Happy" became the most successful song in the Dutch Top 40 of all time.[29][30]
United Kingdom[edit]
In the United Kingdom, "Happy" debuted at No. 71 on the UK Singles Chart on December 1, 2013.[31] It then spent four weeks climbing before finally reaching No. 1 on December 29, becoming the final UK number one single of 2013.[32] It became Williams' third No. 1 song in Britain, counting "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines", where he appeared as a featured artist.[33] It has since spent four non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, reaching the peak on three separate occasions. In doing so, Williams became only the third artist ever to achieve this, and the first since Guy Mitchell in 1957 with "Singing the Blues".[34] Following the single's third week at No. 1, it spent five weeks in the top three before returning to the summit, boosted by his performance at the 2014 Brit Awards.[34] In the same week that "Happy" returned to No. 1 for the third time, it sold its millionth copy in the UK, Williams' third in under a year, having previously done so with Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" in June 2013, and Thicke's "Blurred Lines" in July 2013. This made Williams only the second artist in UK chart history (the first being The Beatles) to have three singles sell 1 million copies in under a year,[34] as well as only the third artist ever to have three million-sellers, along with The Beatles (who have six) and Rihanna (who has four).[34]
"Happy" was the best-selling single of UK in 2014, with 1.5 million copies sold for the year,[4] and became the most downloaded song of all time in the UK by September 2014, with over 1.62 million sold.[35] It had also been streamed over 25 million times and was the first song released in the 2010s to go 3× Platinum.[36] With the inclusion of streaming, "Happy" has achieved combined sales of over 2 million.[37] Additionally, "Happy" and Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" became the first singles ever to spend an entire calendar year on the official UK top 75 chart. On June 12, it was announced that "Happy" had overtaken "Evergreen" by Will Young as the UK's best-selling single of the 21st century, with sales of 1.81 million.[35] "Happy" spent 92 weeks in the UK top 100.[38] As of February 2020, the song has sold 1,950,000 copies.[6]