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"Happiness" is a song by English band the 1975 from their fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language (2022). The song was released on 3 August 2022 through Dirty Hit and Polydor Records as the second single from the album. It was written by band members Matthew Healy and George Daniel alongside English electronic production duo DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. Production of the song was handled by Healy, Daniel and Jack Antonoff. After receiving a demo from DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, the band wrote and recorded the song within a day, foregoing a traditional recording structure in favour of jamming.

"Happiness" is an upbeat 1980s-style dance-pop, disco, pop and funk song composed of a steady four on the floor beat, interlocking funk guitars, horns, retro synths and saxophones. The production also incorporates elements of sophisti-pop, indie pop, soul and jazz-pop. Thematically, it is a love song that deals with embracing vulnerability and the uncertainty of love.

Background and recording
While researching various producers to collaborate with for Being Funny in a Foreign Language on Spotify, Healy decided to contact DJ Sabrina of the London-based electronic production duo DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ in early 2021. Expressing his admiration for the duo's work, the singer asked if they were interested in working with the 1975, and the producer agreed to the collaboration. Speaking to the Alternative Press' Chris Hatler about the offer, DJ Sabrina said: "I said I'd love to. I'd been a fan of their music for years, so this was amazing that he was a fan of my music too." DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ created several short demos intended for the 1975, the first of which was titled "Happiness", which Healy described as "the proto-identity of [the] song but without all the 1975-ness". After selecting the demo, the singer "back and forthed it a little bit" with DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ to build words and melodies, before finishing the writing and recording with the rest of the 1975 members.

Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Healy remarked that "Happiness" was recorded "in like a day or so", with little regard to structure. Instead, the song was created as a live record with "literally loads of us in the room" engaging in a jam session with "locked eyes", saying: "It's a live record, so there's a lot of call-and-response, a lot of repetition, because we were in the room, jamming." The singer stated that their goal was to capture a moment of "[the band] having fun" and acknowledge a "certain lyrical and sonic identity to what The 1975 was", rather than being overly constructed and produced, telling Lowe that he believes "there's this real desire in art to see something remarkable with as little technology as possible".

In an interview with Justin Curto of Vulture, Healy revealed that the demo of "Happiness" was chosen due its "interesting" and "quite charming" sample of the statement: "I'm happiest when I'm doing something that I know is good / That's happiness for me". Unbeknownst to the 1975, the sample was actually a recording of Healy, which the band did not learn until they played the completed recording at an increased tempo. Realising that unintentionally self-sampling himself would result in claims of self-mythologising, Healy told Curto that it made him feel nervous and self-aware, telling the interviewer that he was focused on being earnest and sincere in the band's music, rather than being portrayed as ironic and sardonic.

Music and lyrics
Musically, "Happiness" is an upbeat, instrumental-driven dance-pop,  disco,   pop and funk song. It has a length of five minutes and three seconds (5:03). The song was written by the 1975 members Matthew Healy and George Daniel alongside DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, while the former two handled the production in collaboration with Jack Antonoff. According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Music Publishing, "Happiness" is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 118 beats per minute. The track is composed in the key of B major, with Healy's vocals ranging between the notes of F♯4 and G♯5. It follows a chord progression of B–G♯m7–F♯–B–G♯m7–D♯m7. "Happiness" contains a "glitching" 1980s-style production is composed of a steady four on the floor beat, a deep and dynamic groove, a "bouncy" bassline, "loose, sparkling" atmospherics, and 1980s-inspired textures and rhythms. The song's instrumentation is built upon "thumping" drums,, "soaring" horns, clipped and "plucky" interlocking funk guitars, "smooth" retro synths, saxophones and a slap-bass. The track also incorporates elements of sophisti-pop, indie pop, soul and jazz-pop.

Thematically, "Happiness" is a love song that focuses on the uncertainty of love and embracing forces beyond ones control,  while the lyrics describe finding joy in a new partner and experiencing the adrenaline rush of falling in love. The song begins with a fourty-five second (0:45) intro composed of the 1975's "familiar, iconic" heavy bass notes and "delicately" placed keys, with Healy fondling remembering a woman who showed him the meaning of love, singing: "She showed me what love is / Now I’m acting like I know myself". After declaring the lengths he would go to gain the attention of his partner ("Oh, in case you didn't notice / Oh, oh, I would go blind just to see you / I'd go too far just to have you near"), the singer expresses his desperation in the chorus: "Show me your love, why don't you?". Despite finding joy, Healy expresses a hint of lingering doom in the lyrics: "I'm gonna stop messing it up because I'm / Feeling like I'm messing it up." During the song's bridge, John Waugh performs a "jazzy" saxophone solo. Towards the end of the track, the singer repeats the refrain "I'm never love again", which Abby Jones of Consequence interpreted as signifying "both the relief of having found the one and the fear of losing it all". The song concludes with an outro consisting of an extended breakdown featuring "soulful" saxophones and "spiky" rhythm guitars, with the band "locked in a vibe, only ready to break once their soloist has hit his high note", according to Rolling Stone's Maura Johnston.

Molly Cantwell of Hot Press wrote that "Happiness" contrasts Healy's "typical sad boy energy" with its "bubbly" instrumental, while Alex Swhear of Variety described the singer as sounding "so hopelessly lovestruck that all other concerns have faded into his periphery". The editorial staff of The Face deemed the song "arena-friendly pop that's powered with a disco pulse and smothered with a slick saxophone". Johnston called the track a "defiant-crying-at-the-discotechque cut", while Claire Biddles of The Line of Best Fit described the song as "glitzy, late-80s sophistipop" and compared it to the band's "Heart Out" (2013).
 * Similarly, James Mellen of Clash called it a "classic" the 1975 song, deeming the track an "80s leaning dancefloor anthem" evocative of the band's I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It (2016).
 * El Hunt of NME also drew a comparison between "Happiness" and the "bright, punchy, '80s-informed sound" of the band's sophomore album, while Sarah Jamieson of DIY wrote that the track "seems to pick up where 'The Sound' [(2016)] left off".
 * Additionally, Michael Cragg of The Guardian said the song recalls the "sleek, pastel-hued pop-rock" of I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It.
 * Stephen Ackroyd of Dork described "Happiness" as a "looser" and more expansive version of the 1975's "iconic sound" that sonically draws from each of the band's albums, combining the "bright, boppy energy" of The 1975 (2013) and I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It with the "complexity and invention" of A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018) and Notes on a Conditional Form (2020).

Reception

 * Dylan Tuck of The Skinny deemed "Happiness" an album highlight.


 * Hunt called it the 1975's best pop song in years.
 * Brady Gerber of Spin commended the track's "joyous" sound and a pleasant surprise, saying it "make you want to get up, dance, and actually live".
 * In his review of "Happiness", Mellen praised Healy for "once again shows[ing] his knack for a hook" and "oozing with his polarising charm and swagger" on the verses, while also highlighting Adam Hann's guitar work, saying he "rules the track".
 * Swhear credited the song's organic production for giving it a "euphoric buoyancy" and said the track succeeded in representing the overall sound of Being Funny in a Foreign Language better than the album's lead single "Part of the Band". The reviewer also commended the song's 1980s-style hook, saying it "illuminates the trickiness of [the 1975's] balancing act: distilling pop pleasures to their simplest form while also allowing space for Healy’s inimitable (and decidedly un-simple) gifts as a writer and frontman".
 * Echoing Swhear's statement, Ackroyd stated that "Happiness", rather than "Part of the Band", was the 1975's "rope-a-dope comeback that delivers the knock-out punch". The reviewer went on to praise the song's production for synthesising the band's "iconic" sound with a "casual, organic ease previously untapped in their more immediate moments", saying they achieved the impossible in matching "sky high" expectations.
 * Similarly, Cantwell praised the band for returning "back to the true [the] 1975 roots".


 * Cragg highlighted the song's "earworm" chorus and said it adds to the band's "arsenal of festival anthems".
 * Brady Brickner-Wood of Pitchfork commended Healy's "astounding" vocal performance and called "Happiness" a "glistening, limber, and exceptional proof-of-concept".


 * In a mixed review, Biddles called the song an album highlight but criticised the production for its similarities to the band's previous 1980s-inspired songs, deeming it overly repetitive.
 * Similarly, Evan Sawdey of PopMatters declared "Happiness" an "ace-in-the-hole pop [barnstormer]" and called the song "undeniably catchy", but found the overall sentiment to be hollow.
 * https://www.stereogum.com/2195054/the-1975-happiness/music/

Music video
An accompanying music video, directed by Samuel Bradley, was released on 3 August 2022. The visual, shot in a retro 1970s style, depicts the 1975 performing throughout various rooms in a mansion. The video begins with Healy having a drink at a bar. The singer gets up, takes a cigar from an old man attempting to relax and walks onto a stage and turns on a stereo. Healy then begins performing "Happiness" in front of the man. As the visual progresses, the singer is joined by the other band members, who perform in the mansion's living room for well-dressed, lounging party guests. Various other scenes are interspersed throughout the music video showing the band playing the song in different rooms with the guests, including Waugh, pianist Jamie Squire and a horse. The visual concludes with the 1975 performing on several raised platforms as a confetti canon is launched. Kelsey Sullivan of Soundigest called the video "charming" and wrote: "The band is clearly having fun with their moves and vintage props." Clash writer Robin Murray praised Healy's performance and called the visual "very meta". Cantwell also highlighted the singer's dance moves and said it "perfectly fits the 1975's kooky aesthetic, what they're known and loved for".