"Happy" is a song written, produced, and performed by American musicianPharrell Williams, released as the only single from thesoundtrack album for the filmDespicable Me 2 (2013).[a] The song was first released on July 2, 2013 with the soundtrack, and it was released as a single on November 21, 2013, alongside a long-formmusic video. The song was reissued on December 16, 2013, byBack Lot Music under exclusive license toColumbia Records, a division ofSony Music.[1] The song also served as the lead single from Williams's second studio album,Girl (2014). An official remix features American rapperSky Blu ofLMFAO.
Williams provided vocals for French duoDaft Punk's 2013 albumRandom Access Memories on the songs "Lose Yourself to Dance" and "Get Lucky". After returning from the recording sessions inParis, 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 toColumbia Records and would release his second studio album in 2014.[11]
Williams originally wrote the song forCeeLo Green and felt Green's recording of the song was better, butElektra 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]
"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 inMiami, Florida. The song was later mixed by Leslie Brathwaite at Music Box Studios inAtlanta, Georgia.[16]
"Happy" plays for 3 minutes and 53 seconds[1] incommon time and at atempo of 160beats per minute. The song is written in the key ofF minor. 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 ofCurtis Mayfield.[18][19]
"Happy" is an up-temposoul andneo soul song.[20][21] According to music journalistPaul 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 "sprightlyneosoulfunkgroove".[18]
"Happy" was met with very positive reviews. Jody Rosen ofRolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars and deemed it "an instant contender for 2013's Song of the Summer".[18] In a 4/5 review,Renowned for Sound's Huw Woodward said, "Happy is a rather... well... happy affair with a cheerful beat and exuberant vocal that would indicate that the formerN.E.R.D. singer is finding a lot of lighthearted fun to be had in both music and life. 'Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth' sings Williams as the jaunty rhythm gets your head nodding."[23] Holly Williams ofContactmusic.com gave it four stars, praising it for being "unbelievably catchy" and "the kind of song that makes you want to dance and sing along".[22] Reggie Ugwu ofBillboard called the song "Contagiously peppy and brilliantly simple".[24]
Retrospective reviews have been more critical. In 2022,Far Out placed "Happy" on its "The 10 worst songs to have spent 10 weeks at Number 1 on theBillboard Hot 100" list: "Featuring nonsensical lyrics such as 'clap along if you feel like a room without a roof,' it's a fine enough song for a children's film. However, there was no need for such a repetitive song to receive so much general radio play."[27] Writing forStereogum in hisThe Number Ones column, Tom Breihan gave the song a 3/10, calling it "a repetitive song, one that keeps running its chorus back and doesn't have a proper bridge."[28]
In October 2013, a month prior to its single release, "Happy" catapulted to No. 1 on theDutch Top 40 chart in the Netherlands, partially as a result of radio station3FM airplay and subsequent online downloads, as well as featuring in aTransavia commercial.[29] 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.[30][31] It went on to finish number five on the year-end Single Top 40 list, giving Williams three songs in the top five, along with "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky", both of which feature him.
In the United Kingdom, "Happy" debuted at No. 71 on theUK Singles Chart on December 1, 2013.[32] It then spent four weeks climbing before finally reaching No. 1 on December 29, becoming the final UK number one single of 2013.[33] It became Williams' third No. 1 song in Britain, counting "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines", where he appeared as a featured artist.[34] 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 sinceGuy Mitchell in 1957 with "Singing the Blues".[35] 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 the2014 Brit Awards.[35] 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 beingthe Beatles) to have three singles sell 1 million copies in under a year,[35] as well as only the third artist ever to have three million-sellers, along with the Beatles (who have six) andRihanna (who has four).[35]
"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.[36] It had also been streamed over 25 million times and was the first song released in the 2010s to go 3× Platinum.[37] With the inclusion of streaming, "Happy" has achieved combined sales of over 2 million.[38] Additionally, "Happy" andIdina 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" byWill Young as theUK's best-selling single of the 21st century, with sales of 1.81 million.[36] "Happy" spent 92 weeks in the UK top 100.[39] As of February 2020[update], the song has sold 1,950,000 copies.[6]
On theNew Zealand Singles Chart, "Happy" debuted at No. 11 on December 23, 2013. The next week it moved to No. 2. Then on January 6, 2014, "Happy" began a 12-week consecutive reign in the No. 1 position, right up until March 24, 2014. It then dropped to No. 2 for one week, then spent a further three weeks at No. 1, bringing the total number of weeks at No. 1 to fifteen, breaking the 36-year-long record for most weeks spent at No. 1, previously held byBoney M.'s "Rivers of Babylon".[40][41] As of February 22, 2015[update], "Happy" had spent 62 straight weeks in the New Zealand Top 40 since its debut, before finally dropping out of the chart the following week. The song has been certified 7× Platinum in New Zealand.[40][42]
"Happy" reached the top of the USBillboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 8, 2014, giving Williams his fourth No. 1 single on the chart, and his first as lead artist. It took twelve years and a week (as the issue date is March 8, 2014) to achieve his first Hot 100 No. 1 hit as a lead artist.[43] The song remained at No. 1 the following week, and also topped theHot 100 Airplay chart.[44] The song also holds the record for the second-highest audience peak for a week on the Hot 100 Airplay with 225.9 million impressions, whileRobin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", a song in which Pharrell was featured as well as produced and co-wrote, holds the all-time record.[45] The song remained at the No. 1 position longer than any other song in the calendar year. The single passed its 4 million sales mark in April 2014, the first song of 2014 to do so.[46]
On the week of May 17, 2014, after spending ten weeks at the summit, "Happy" was finally knocked off number one byJohn Legend's "All of Me" down to the No. 2 spot.[47] "Happy" became the 28th song in the history of the chart to reach this milestone.[48] It spent a total of 22 weeks in the top 10, entering on the week-ending February 15, 2014 and departing on July 19, 2014. The song sold 5,633,000 copies in the US in the first six months of 2014, the most ever of any song in the first six months of any calendar year.[49] It was also the best-selling song of 2014 in the US with 6.45 million copies sold for the year,[3] and has sold over 6.9 million total copies in the US as of April 2015[update].[50]
The song also topped the charts of 22 other countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Spain. It spent twelve weeks (including seven consecutive) at No. 1 in Ireland,[51] making it the third song in less than a year to spend more than seven weeks at No. 1, after Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" andAvicii's "Wake Me Up!". In France, "Happy" spent 22 weeks at No. 1, the longest reign at the top of theSyndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique, beatingLou Bega's "Mambo No. 5", which spent 20 weeks at No. 1 in 1999.
The original video spawned many cover videos on YouTube in which people from different cities throughout the world dance to the song. Those videos are usually called "Pharrell Williams – Happy – We Are from [name of the city]".[59] As of May 2014[update], more than 1,500 videos have been created. Inspired by this global phenomenon, a French couple launched a website wearehappyfrom.com to showcase the remakes.[60]
In April 2014, theEmbassy of the United States, Yerevan,Armenia released a video titled "Happy Yerevan", directed by Artyom Abovyan featuring US ambassadorJohn A. Heffern and several Armenian celebrities, such as singersAndré,Emmy andAram Mp3.[61][62] The same monthartsmedia Albania produced a music video for the track featuring inhabitants ofTirana. The video soon became popular inAlbania and caused controversy over the usage of images of Albanian First SecretaryEnver Hoxha.[63]
In May 2014, a group of Iranian fans who created a tribute to "Happy" were arrested.[64][65][66][67] According to a police chief, the song represented vulgarity and also hurt public chastity. Williams responded to the arrest in a tweet stating "It's beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness."[68] Soon afterIran's PresidentHassan Rouhani criticized the arrest when he tweeted "#Happiness is our people's right. We shouldn't be too hard on behaviours caused by joy."[69] The dancers, along with the director,[70] were later released. It was reported on September 19, 2014, that seven of the individuals in the Iranian video had been handed sentences,suspended for three years, of 91 lashes each along with jail by Iranian courts.[71]
In 2014, American musician"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied "Happy" as "Tacky" on his fourteenth studio albumMandatory Fun. The song mocks questionable style in fashion as well as activities considered gauche. Yankovic recorded the song as one of the last onMandatory Fun, and received Williams' approval directly, through email. He remarked he was "honored" to have his work spoofed by Yankovic.[72] The song's one-shot music video parodies "Happy", and was the first in a series of eight videos released over eight days in promotion ofMandatory Fun. It features cameo appearances byAisha Tyler,Margaret Cho,Eric Stonestreet,Kristen Schaal, andJack Black, and was produced by Nerdist Industries.[73][74]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 09. týden 2014 in the date selector. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 18. týden 2014 in the date selector. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
^"Media Forest – Weekly Charts".Media Forest. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2018.Note: Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^"Media Forest – Weekly Charts".Media Forest. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2018.Note: Select 'Songs – TV'. Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: insert 201411 into search. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201428 into search. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
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