Being “happy” in the US in 2014 is fucking insane.
I left in 2004 because of how bad things were getting- a decision that has been continually justified every day since.
Imagine if Bruno Mars and Travie McCoy made “I wanna be a billionaire” in 2026
Hell, I wasn’t even happy in 2014-ish when that song was raging. I think I went to the hospital for suicidal stuff that year BECAUSE I’M HAPPYYYYYYY 🎵
Kind of amazing people didn’t beat his ass back then. Radio music is ass.
I’m not even Fappy these days.
Hell not even a little somber horney
Oh my!
Stomp along if you feel unhappiness is the truth…hey hey
Now we know how he truly felt when he wrote the song.
They are happy, OTOH. Happy in seeing how much further the West despairs and sinks in the quagmire of misery.
I don’t get it… Did I miss something?
Yes: we’re not happy any more.
Man, I fucking hate that song. “Happiness is the truth”, god, what pseudophilosophical bullshit. It really is the manifestation of all that thoughtless feel-good philosophy pushed by hyper-captitalist dickheads.
I’ve heard Pharrell agrees with this read. From what I’ve heard, he was contracted to write a song for something and the execs kept turning him down, so in his frustration he wrote the most shallow cheerful song he could. He thought they’d recognize that and reject it to, but they loved it.
I was surprised by this because it sounds like one of those internet stories that isn’t true, or was morphed so many times after multiple retellings. But a quick search shows me that this is completely true:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/07/nx-s1-5001928/pharrell-says-his-hit-happy-came-from-a-sarcastic-place
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.
TIL
Well he didn’t mean for it to be sarcastic really
Yeah, it’s sarcasm. But I didn’t realize that I was being sarcastic. It just was - like, that was just my sarcastic response to my rhetorical question. And it was just like, OK, let me just go with this. And before you knew it, it was that.
oh the irony to be successful with exactly that
Pharrell with that Arby’s looking ass hat.
That hat is actually an entire Arby’s sign.
This was around the time of the 08 housing bubble collapse, a lot of people were dealing with worse working conditions and the sheer number of breakups and divorces that occurred in 08 still surprises me. Fuck Pharell and the wave of shitty music around that time, always seemed to be punching-down music intended for the entertainment of the criminal managerial class.
wasn’t 08 around the time houses went down in price, aka the best time to buy housing?
God forbid people have entertainment not designed to make them feel like they could be unemployed tomorrow.
Pharrell’s song was specifically formulated to punch down on us plebs, donchaknow. So hating him for the song is mandatory.
It was a bit after that. This song came out in 2013. By that point the economy was better and housing was still reasonably affordable.
Its a known phenomenon, seen with Shirley Temple during the depression as example. People tend to want entertainment counter to the world state.
Its how I know we are in clown world times, since not even this indicator seems to play out anymore.
"Movie: no outside food
Me, concealing a rotisserie chicken"
Oh we’re doing memes en espanol now?
*míms
Huehuehue
Crappy
We could try to whoop him, but he’s got a truncheon, a handgun, and a small Christmas ham hidden in his hat and he knows how to use them. They make him happy, you see.
I’d be happy too if I had a Christmas ham hidden in my hat
Better have some tin foil under there too unless you want your head soaked in ham juices.
Never forget that he also shares responsibility for 2013’s ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke.
Get Lucky was on the air at the time too
I forgave this song for existing once it gave us Weird Al’s Word Crimes.
Pharrel and Thicke got credits on the Weird Al version. They get a share of the royalties.
He must be brought to justice
