Pharrell Williams - Happy (almost 5 years later), how has it aged?

It might seem a little premature assessing how well a song has aged, or maybe where it stands currently after only 5 years since it's recording and a little over 4 since it was a #1 hit but why not. This song randomly came on my Spotify on my drive this morning and I became instantly nostalgic.

Favorite #1 single of 2014

In December of 2014 I made a thread asking the SHF to vote their favorite #1 single of 2014 and nearly half of the votes went to this tune, which was the #1 song of the year overall.

In my lifetime I can't think of a song that was more ubiquitous than 'Happy'. For a time in 2014 the whole world seemed to be quite literally obsessed with the being 'Happy'. Little children, teenagers, young adults, adults, all the way to the elderly seemed entranced by this very simple song. It's current views on YT are passed 1B, there were videos from people all over the world dancing to 'Happy' and it went #1 everywhere. 'Happy' isn't just one of the biggest hits of the decade but it's performance WW makes it in the Top 5 biggest hit songs of all time.

Here we are in 2018, 4 years after the fact and I can't help but wonder how well you think 'Happy' has aged. Listening to it this morning was actually more enjoyable than it was 4 years ago. I guess now that the song isn't as inescapable as it once was, my appreciation for it has increased.



What do you guys think? How has it held up?

 

I'm genuinely not trolling but that song is like nails down a blackboard to me. Fake plastic soul and dreadful lyrics in my opinion.

 

Are there any objective measures that can backup your assertion about it being top 5 biggest hits all time? Just curious as you didn't cite any.

 

Horrible. I don't mind Get Lucky though.

 

It hasn't aged very well, mostly because it overstayed its welcome to begin with. However, I still enjoy "Get Lucky."

 

Don't worry........................Be Happy

 

A modern classic. Sang it in a cover band that year. I have a feeling that a bit more organic live production could have improved it though. Just a thought.

 

There is always this opinion but it connected with millions in a way few songs do, and was definitely a cross-generational smash. To each his own though.

 

Get Lucky is definitely an all-time favorite. Takes me back to summer of '13 passing time doing whatever with my friends back in HS (before everyone went off to College)

Was ways fun to jam to during a car ride.

 

I never cared for it to begin with, but the fact that it’s already one of the most overplayed songs of the 21st century has ruined any chances the song had of aging well.

 

Has the shelf life of a quart of milk. Like most top 40 songs of the last 2 decades.

 

I’m grateful that I’ve still never heard the whole song, because what I heard sounded awful to me.

 

Like many songs, I listen to the Weird Al parody nowadays much more than the original.

 

Absolutely, but it doesn't mean one point of view is right and the other is wrong. It's a music discussion forum so naturally people will have different opinions, global popularity doesn't mean anything to me personally, I either like it or I don't.

 

Lost some of its magic luster but still a toe tapping addiction of a tune. Gets ya happy and feeling good 5 years later.

 

I still think it was refreshingly positive. It's strange but I think some of the same optimism in this song can be heard in Paul McCartney's new album Egypt Station, perhaps an unintentional influence?.

 

^THIS! Seriously, the amount of times I've had to listen to Heart radio play it is unthinkable. Even Radio 2 blast it a fair bit, and I thought that was the one GOOD mainstream station. It may be called a 'soul' song, but it sucks the soul out of its tortured listeners, the exact OPPOSITE of what that genre is meant to do!

 

I'm surprise the 'super-slow-English-version' never took off!

 

Some people liked it a little too much...

Woman Dies in Car Crash While Posting to Facebook About Pharrell's Song 'Happy'

 

Alls I remember is that girls kept crashing their cars while dancing and driving to it.

 

I think it has aged well IMO. It has aged much better than Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass from the same year for instance. I can see somebody hitting #1 with a song similar to Happy.

In the era of the slow beats of trap music, faster music like “Tik Tok” is becoming gradually dated though.

 

I think it's kind of catchy now that I don't have to hear it all the time.

 

Few songs do because very few get the chance. Did it connect with millions of people or was it force-fed to millions of people a la 'Everthing is Awsome' in the Lego movie?

 

I hate it. It's machine-tooled junk.

 

I bought it (the recording, not the farm) and I still like it today.

It’s a catchy and infectious tune that caught several generations all at once. It also remains a floor-filler in 2018, well, in my lounge anyway.

It also sold over 14 million copies worldwide but that still means that most of the world didn’t buy it.

IMHO it has aged better than “I Just Called To Say I Love You” did.