Happy (Pharrell Williams song)
| Happy | |
|---|---|
| Pharrell Williams | |
| publication | November 21st 2013 |
| length | 3:54 |
| Genre (s) | Pop , neo-soul , funk |
| Author (s) | Pharrell Williams |
| Label | Back Lot Music, Columbia |
| album |
Despicable Me 2 (Soundtrack), GIRL |
Happy (German Glücklich ) is a song by the US singer Pharrell Williams from 2013. It first appeared as a contribution to the soundtrack to the animated film Ich - Einfach Desverbesserlich 2 and was later released as a single. In September 2015 Happy was awarded a diamond record in Germany for over one million units sold. This makes the single one of the best-selling singles in Germany .
history
Happy was written, produced, and recorded by Williams. The backing vocals were provided by Rhea Dummett, Trevon Henderson, Ashley L. Lee, Shamika Hightower, Jasmine Murray and Terrence Rolle. The editing and arrangement was done by Andrew Coleman and Mike Larson, who then recorded the piece with the help of Matthew Desrameaux at Circle House Studios in Miami. The song was later mixed by Leslie Brathwaite at the Music Box Studios in Atlanta.
It was first released in June 2013 on the soundtrack to the film Despicable Me 2 . The single was released on November 21, 2013 and also contained the instrumental version of the piece.
In February 2015, a German version of Santiago Ziesmer in his role as SpongeBob SquarePants was released under the name Ich bin happy as a single from The SuperBob Album .
composition
The genre of the piece is in the neo-soul style; whereby the clearly blue-note- heavy, syncopated melody and a simple, very repetitive harmony form the basis (but also make up the charm of the piece). Modulations in a key other than F major also do not occur. The first verse of the piece only alternates between two central chords, F major and F minor. In addition, the refrain only works with three chords: D flat major with a major seventh, C minor with a minor seventh, and F major.
The basic material of the piece consists mainly of three formal parts (verse, chorus, break (intermediate part), chorus, renewed break, refrain), whereby the energetic clapping rhythm of the predominantly percussive breaks leads to the request "Clap Along" contained in the text ( "Klapsch mit") picks up. Intro, bridges or outro do not appear in the composition.
Music video
Together with the single release, the website 24hoursofhappy.com went live, which according to its own statement is showing "the world's first 24-hour music video". The video consists of four-minute sections in which different people dance to the music. The special thing about this is that the scenes are cut one after the other in such a way that the impression is created that the next person would start dancing at the point where the previous person left off, creating a 24-hour circuit through the city. In addition to numerous unknown people, Williams (at the beginning of every full hour) and Odd Future (1:48 PM), Steve Carell (5:08 PM), Jamie Foxx (5:28 PM), Ana Ortiz (5:32 PM) also perform , Miranda Cosgrove (5:40 PM), JoJo (6:16 PM), Kelly Osbourne (1:28 AM), Magic Johnson (5:36 AM), Sérgio Mendes (10:32 AM) and Jimmy Kimmel (11: 48 AM) in the video. The minions from the film Despicable Me 2 also have short appearances in the video. The 24-hour music video was shot by the steadicam operator Jon Beattie with the Sachtler artemis Cine HD developed by Curt O. Schaller . The user can jump to the different segments himself. A four-minute version of the video was also released on YouTube .
At the Grammy Awards in 2015 , the video was as Best Music Video Award of the year.
Happy in Tehran
The video has inspired numerous people all over the world to post their own films on YouTube , which show people dancing to "happy" on the streets of different metropolises.
After the publication of the Happy recording from Persia on May 19, 2014, the six participants from Tehran were arrested by the Iranian religious police because they danced unveiled. After worldwide protests the dancers were released, the director remained in custody. The five young actors and the director were convicted in autumn 2014 of violating public morality : 91 lashes and six months in prison on probation, another person involved received a year in prison. The sentences were suspended for three years. With the words: "Happiness is a right of our people" , the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke up on Twitter for those involved. Another Iranian version with dancers in headscarves has also been on YouTube since May 5, 2014.
Chart placements
Happy reached the top of the charts in all DA-CH countries and became Williams' third number one success as an interpreter after Blurred Lines and Get Lucky in all three countries . 2014 placed Happy at the top position of the Swiss charts of the year and, behind Breathless through the night of Helene Fischer , in second place in Germany and Austria. In addition, Happy took second place in the annual charts of the German airplay charts, behind Waves (Robin Schulz (Remix)) ( Mr. Probz / Robin Schulz ) .
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
1 (62 weeks) | 62 |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
1 (58 weeks) | 58 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
1 (80 weeks) | 80 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
1 (92 weeks) | 92 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
1 (47 weeks) | 47 |
Awards and nominations
| year | Award | category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Academy Awards | Best movie song | Nominated |
| 2014 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | best song | Nominated |
| 2015 | grammy | Best music video | Won |
Awards for music sales
Happy has been awarded 2 × gold and 59 × platinum and 4 × diamond worldwide. According to the awards, the single sold over 17.2 million times (including premium streaming).
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 11 × platinum
|
770,000 |
 Belgium (BEA)
|
4 × platinum
|
120,000 |
 Denmark (IFPI)
|
platinum
|
30,000 |
|
Germany (BVMI)
|
 diamond
|
1,000,000 |
 France (SNEP)
|
diamond
|
250,000 |
 Italy (FIMI)
|
6 × platinum
|
180,000 |
 Japan (RIAJ)
|
2 × platinum
|
500,000 |
 Canada (MC)
|
9 × platinum
|
720,000 |
 Mexico (AMPROFON)
|
Diamond +  gold
|
330,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
6 × platinum
|
90,000 |
 Norway (IFPI)
|
3 × platinum
|
30,000 |
|
Austria (IFPI)
|
gold
|
15,000 |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
4 × platinum
|
160,000 |
 Spain (Promusicae)
|
4 × platinum
|
160,000 |
|
Switzerland (IFPI)
|
3 × platinum
|
90,000 |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
11 × platinum
|
11,000,000 |
|
United Kingdom (BPI)
|
5 × platinum
|
3,000,000 |
| All in all |
2 × gold 59 × platinum 4 × diamond |
17,265,000 |
Main article: Pharrell Williams / Music Sales Awards
See also
Web links
- 24hoursofhappy.com - The World's First 24 Hour Music Video
- We are happy from . An interactive world map on the web platform of Julie Fersing and Loïc Fontaine, from Nantes in France with 1950 (total 141 h 46 min) music videos from 153 countries, from all over the world, even from the Arctic and Antarctic - last visited on June 30th 2014.
- Official music video on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pharrell Williams - Happy at rollingstone.com, accessed January 17, 2014
- ↑ Happy at swr.de, accessed on January 17, 2014
- ↑ a b Behind the scenes “Happy” at nation19.com, accessed on January 17, 2014
- ↑ Popshot: Review of The SuperBob Album , article from March 14, 2015, accessed on March 21, 2015.
- ↑ How did Jon Beattie shoot Pharrell's “24 Hours of Happy”? at cinema5D, accessed May 17, 2014
- ↑ Pharrell Williams - Happy (1AM) at youtube.com, accessed January 17, 2014
- ↑ Censorship in Iran: Young people end up in prison after "Happy" dance , Spiegel Online , May 21, 2014
- ↑ Dancers from "Happy" video back at large , heise.de , on May 22, 2014
- ↑ Der Spiegel 40/2014, p. 114 [1]
- ↑ Happy with a headscarf
- ↑ a b Pharrell Williams - Happy Chart Placement Germany. GfK Entertainment , accessed June 20, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Pharrell Williams - Happy Chart Placement Austria. In: Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien, accessed June 20, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Pharrell Williams - Happy Chart Placement Switzerland. In: Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien, accessed June 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Top 100 annual single charts: 2014. officialcharts.de, accessed on June 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Annual Singles Singles 2014. austriancharts.at, accessed on June 23, 2020 .
- ^ Swiss annual hit parade 2014. hitparade.ch, accessed on June 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Annual charts Germany: Chart year 2014. radiocharts.com, accessed on June 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Pharrell Williams - Happy Charthistory United Kingdom. Official Charts Company , accessed June 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Pharrell Williams - Happy Chart Placement United States. Billboard , accessed June 20, 2018 .