Happy is a song devoid of soul. I saw someone bring up that if he released this song today, he would probably be mobbed.
Too bad Pharrell went this route. I really enjoyed him in N.E.R.D.
I learned from Lemmy a while ago that Pharell wrote “Happy” as a bit of a sarcastic jab, so I think it’s intended to be devoid of soul. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the song. But I enjoy that little tidbit
That adds a layer of irony to the AI generated corporate koolaid version I was subjected to at work.
Funny enough N.E.R.D. also has a song called “Happy” but it’s definitely a different vibe than his more famous song of the same name. This one’s happy because an ex-lover is finally out of the singer’s life and their life is now so much better for it.
Did you not hear his work all over the Clipse or Tyler albums last year?
I tend not to listen to a lot of collab stuff or singles. An artists albums are typically what I pay attention to. Not much of his solo style really kept me interested.
There’s something deeply unsettling to know that there’s someone out there who genuinely thinks Happy is better than Africa
I actually can’t think of a worse choice, maybe wheels on the bus or some other nursery rhyme? Even that would at least feel subversive
Baby Shark
Nyan cat
Or crazy frog
Or crazy frog
Finally someone with taste
Nyan cat slaps
https://youtu.be/Ha3PktcY5yA (invidious). Don’t use any of the songs mentioned, just this video. On loop.
I mean Africa is pretty cringe too
How does it feel to actually have a scientifically proven wrong opinion? ~I’m just fucking with you. Please don’t get angry, my comment stands but it still just a joke bro~
Hahaha wrong Africa
Look, if you can’t bless the rains down in Africa, I don’t think we can be friends anymore
If I did I’m afraid it would magically stop raining
sare-en-get-EEEEEEEE
I hate the song Africa by Toto, absolutely can’t stand to hear it. Anything even silence would be a better choice to walk out too.
I always thought that the lyrics were not only a total trainwreck from a rhythmic perspective, but pretty culturally insensitive, even for the 80s. the music itself was ok, but kinda simplistic in a repetitive, poppy way. like many 80s pop songs, it was obviously the product of too much booze, coke, and resultant self-confidence.
obviously the product of too much booze, coke, and resultant self-confidence
And that’s exactly how Toto got the gig doing the soundtrack for the 1984 version of Dune.
The whole soundtrack sounds like something you could compose with a cheap synth keyboard
It was an expensive synth keyboard back in the '80s though.
I mean, it’s an expensive synth today too. You ever seen what pro 80s synths go for today?
“ It’s the end of the world as we know it” by REM would seem appropriate these days.
My class wanted to walk out to “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve.
The first couple of lines go, “It’s a bitter sweet symphony, this life. Tryin’ to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, and then you die.”
The school did not go for that.
“The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”
Sounds upbeat enough, about nuclear apocalypse.
A radio station where I grew up (Cleveland) switched formats to alternative/grunge/whatever in 1990 or 1991 and they kicked this off by playing that song over and over for three straight days. It was a surreal experience to hear it on the radio every time I went to drive anywhere. For me, this was the real moment the '90s began (the other contenders being the premiers on MTV of “Groove is in the Heart” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”).
Apparently many stations all over the country switched formats the same way, by playing “End of the World as We Know It” over and over again.
That was 100.7 WMMS when they got bought by clear channel! That is a reference I never thought I’d see in the wild.
No, it wasn’t WMMS (unless my memory is even worse than I thought). It was a different station although I don’t remember which one. They called themselves “the End” (hence the song), maybe WEND? I dunno. They had that one DJ who had relocated from LA for the gig.
I stopped listening after that one Barenaked Ladies song started getting played once an hour. “It’s been” had me changing the channel so fucking fast it even happened when it was used in their promos. Good god do I hate that fucking song.
According to this it was 107.9 WENZ. A comment says they kicked things off in May 1992 which I guess is about right.
Oh my gosh you’re right! Just got done finding the wiki on them as well. I forgot that was when they switched formats.
“and I feel fine” doesn’t though lmao
I like the implication that Toto Africa has no rhythm whatsoever lmao
But fucking “happy” does???
Possibly apocryphal anecdote, but Pharrell may have created happy to be the most soulless, unimaginative song to be like this is the garbage you producers want, and the producers loved it. Cannot stand that fucking song. Sounds like something Bruno mars would write on purpose
“It was only until you were out of ideas and you asked yourself a rhetorical question and you came back with a sarcastic answer. And that’s what ‘Happy’ was,” Williams said. “How do you make a song about a person that’s so happy that nothing can bring them down? And I sarcastically answered it and put music to it, and that sarcasm became the song. And that broke me.”
Pharrell in an interview. So you’re right pretty much. It was created for Despicable Me 2 so the movie folks had veto rights and he couldn’t make something he actually would’ve wanted to make
I really hope he refuses to perform it
If you wanted to torture secrets out of me, that song would be the way to do it.
Clap along
But I DON’T feel like a room without a roof!
For my senior class I floated the idea of ‘Fight for your right to party’ by the Beastie Boys, and it took off. Won in a landslide when we voted.
Then the school leaders basically ignored us and chose some lame van Halen song, even though no one wanted it, and no one in the class listened to van Halen because they were fucking ass-rock has beens
What? You’re telling me you don’t want to receive your diploma to a song that ends with the band members catcalling random girls?
And the complaint that mom threw away your best porno mag?
it’s not the best Beastie Boys era, I give you that. gigantic penises on stage included.
“Who said that?!”
If the school picked Hot for Teacher to play on behalf of the students that would be… Something.
We walked out to Highway To Hell because someone’s older brother blasted it from their stereo in the parking lot.
I proposed it and the rest agreed. Felt like a fitting song graduating in the 2010s.
That’s gonna be my funeral song lol.
As a non-American, I was very confused for a bit. Why are senior citizens needing to pick songs? What are they graduating from?
Senior is also the word to describe students in the 12th grade, the final year of high school.
Senior student in high school. 12th grade
I nominate Mii Channel Theme Flute Cover (Wii) for the graduation song.
Alternate if you want to hear a flute cover of that without your ears bleeding for the memes: https://youtu.be/PZH3mgPwpgI?is=e6J_hWEZO6bbftxo
Mii channel theme is surprisingly good pick to make flute music out of.
good video but please see this comment https://lemmy.world/comment/26048483
Oh yeah I didn’t clean the link up you’re right.
I rather listen to farts than the happy song
Pretty sure he wrote it on purpose to be stupid as hell just to prove he could.
We were allowed to build small groups of 2-3 people and choose our own song. We went with “Another brick in the wall”
My school banned that song from ceremonies after every class chose it for like 5 years straight.
This gives me Director Skinner vibes :D
“Are our students unhappy? Are we out of touch? No! It’s the kids that are wrong!”lol yeah there was some of that happening. Although to be fair, we were a bunch of idiots… we chose the same song as the previous year (bohemian rhapsody). Talk about apathetic
There’s so much “teachers pet” ink just dripping off this paper, I can smell it through my phone
Im seeing a lot of hate, but these are both good songs.
Happy:
- upbeat and celebratory
- fun to dance to
- a nice contrast to pomp and circumstance
Africa:
- cool instruments
- fun to sing along to
- a classic rock song from the 80s
WILLIAMS: Well, after nine times of, you know, nine nos, like, nope, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, doesn’t work, then I had to kind ask myself a rhetorical question. How do you write a song about someone that’s so happy that nothing can bring them down? I’m paraphrasing. And the song ended up being the sarcastic answer to that.
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/07/nx-s1-5001928/pharrell-says-his-hit-happy-came-from-a-sarcastic-place
Shit like this is why I didn’t attend either of my graduations and got married in front of a preacher and two friends
Did it cure what’s deep inside?
when posting this comment, did you think:
I know that I must do what’s rightSure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.
Are you frightened of this thing you’ve become?
Oh I really misunderstood the point I thought this was some kind of old persons home, and they organised some sort of walk outside with music…
I’m still salty that my choice of “Living La Vida Loca” was unanimously voted against so that we could have “I’m Still Standing”
I was so medicated that I don’t remember what I “walked out on…” I guess it was Pomp & Circumstance or something, right?
