“Happy” by Pharrell Williams

In this soulful feel-good anthem, the writer cheers his listeners to embrace happiness in the face of problems. As shown in the chorus, the writer is in a happy state of mind and is encouraging others to clap along to his tune even if they don’t feel like things are going that well.

This is highlighted even more in the second verse as Pharrell dares bad news to show itself. Since he is already in a happy place and is contented with his life, he tells all the bad vibes not to waste their time on him. The writer goes on to emphasize on how nothing can make him feel discouraged or sad. His satisfaction and acceptance of the good things in life seem to push him to encourage others to be more optimistic and accept happiness as their truth.

Summary

Happy deals with the concept of maintaining a content and joyful approach towards life irrespective of bad days.

Facts about “Happy”

Happy was written and produced by Pharrell Williams for Despicable Me 2, later being released on November 21, 2013 as the lead single for his second album titled GIRL.

The word Happy is repeated 56 times throughout the song, while the memorable chorus carries about 62% of the track.

The music video, which was directed by We Are From L.A, became the world’s first ever 24-hour music clip. Shot with Steady Cam and following over 400 different people, the crew had to walk at least eight miles per day for 11 continuous days.

Pharrell has mentioned to NPR that he wrote about seven to nine different songs in an attempt to get the right song for the movie scene before he came up with Happy. All the prior songs were declined by Despicable Me 2’s production team.

Although the track received an Oscar nomination, it lost to Frozen‘s Let It Go.

The writer initially gave it to Cee Lo Green, however his team declined the offer to record it.

During the 2015 Grammy Awards, the song received the Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video Awards.

Pharrell Williams condemned the playing of this song at President Trump’s rallies, particularly at a rally that was held a few hours after the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting in 2018. His legal team went further to threaten legal action against the 45^th US president for using the song without the appropriate permission and for trademark infringement.