Happier (Marshmello and Bastille song)


"Happier" is a song by American music producer Marshmello and British band Bastille. Written and produced by Marshmello, with lyrics from Dan Smith and Steve Mac, it was released by Astralwerks on August 17, 2018. It reached number two on both the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 and is the highest charting single for Marshmello in both the UK and the US. It is also Bastille's highest charting single as well on both charts surpassing their 2013 single "Pompeiis number five peak on the Hot 100 and tying at its number two peak on the UK chart. It also logged 27 weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100. The song also currently holds the record for most weeks spent at number one on the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with 69 weeks as of January 2020.
The song was performed live at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards along with Marshmello's single 'Friends' with Anne Marie.
The song was ranked number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart of the 2010s, and is the highest-ranking song to not top the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

Dan Smith, frontman of Bastille, had originally written 'Happier'
for Justin Bieber but the band ultimately decided to keep it for themselves. "We've been having a great time writing for other artists in and amongst making our Bastille albums and mixtapes," Smith told NME. "Last year we wrote a song called 'Happier' and everyone got really excited about it so we thought it would be good as a collaboration. We had a really interesting time getting to work on it with Marshmello who managed to find some euphoria in a pretty melancholy, direct song. It's always good to step into somebody else's world for a minute and we're excited to be a part of it."

Composition

"Happier" is an upbeat pop song that draws elements from pop rock. Lyrically, the song tells "the sordid tale of a love that's over before one party wants to accept it". Billboards Kat Bein opined that it "sounds a little more like his radio-forward hits".
In May 2019, Russian trance producer Arty filed a lawsuit against Marshmello for copyright infringement, citing that "Happier" stole song elements from Arty's remix of the song "I Lived" by OneRepublic. According to the suit, it is possible that Marshmello had become familiar with Arty's remix, released in 2014, and had used copied song elements in his then-upcoming song "Happier", which did not debut until 2015. Alongside Marshmello, other defendants in the case include Daniel Campbell Smith, Steve Mac, and various music publishing companies. Arty is represented by attorney Richard Busch, who had previously represented the Marvin Gaye family in the "Blurred Lines" suit.

Music video

Three music videos were released to support the single. The initially released one was a simple lyric video. This was followed by a performance video featuring Marshmello playing various instruments and Dan Smith singing and dancing, both in different frames and only appearing together at the end of the video. On September 24, 2018, Marshmello released the official music video through YouTube Premiere, starring Miranda Cosgrove as a teenager who has braces, along with Teala Dunn, Jordyn Jones and James Babson as the father. The music video focuses on Cosgrove's character during her birthday, when she receives a puppy for her birthday. The video then later shows how her life is as she deals with bullying, and struggles with the loss of her childhood pet dog. At the end of the video, Cosgrove's character—now a middle-aged woman—throws a birthday party for her own daughter in which her father gives his granddaughter a dog as a present. The color yellow and Marshmello's logo feature throughout the video, but neither he nor anyone from Bastille appear in the video. The video was directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan and photographed by cinematographer Steve Gainer.

Synopsis

A girl's birthday is held, and she is very upset until she gets a dog and puts a bow on it. As she becomes a teenager, she joins a soccer team, and one of the captains pick her last. In the next scene is the team photo, and the girl was in the front; but the captains steal her place and she joins the back. When she smiles, her braces are seen, and she is made fun of for them. She then quits the team and plays with her dog at home, only to find her dog is ill. Months pass and the dog is still ill. The dog is taken to the vet; the vet explains what will happen and has a private conversation with the girl's dad. The girl's dad explains what will happen, then the dog is taken and is put down. Years pass, the girl grows up to have a daughter, who gets happy when her grandfather gifts her a dog for her birthday.

Track listings

  1. "Happier" – 3:34
  1. "Happier" – 4:10
  1. "Happier" – 3:34
  2. "Happier" – 2:38
  1. "Happier" – 3:16
  2. "Happier" – 2:38
  3. "Happier" – 3:15
  4. "Happier" – 3:21
  1. "Happier" – 4:03
  2. "Happier" – 4:48
  3. "Happier" – 3:28
  4. "Happier" – 2:50
  5. "Happier" – 3:06
  6. "Happier" – 3:31

    Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australia 21
Belgium 43
Belgium 82
Canada 5
Denmark 64
France 127
Germany 80
Hungary 58
Hungary 90
Italy 52
Latvia 39
Netherlands 91
New Zealand 25
Romania 82
Slovenia 41
Sweden 58
Switzerland 48
UK Singles 37
US Billboard Hot 1006
US Adult Contemporary 21
US Adult Top 40 8
US Alternative Songs 3
US Dance/Mix Show Airplay 1
US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 1
US Mainstream Top 40 16
US Radio Songs 6
US Rock Airplay Songs 3
US Rolling Stone Top 10028

Decade-end charts

Certifications

!scope="col" colspan="3"| Streaming

Awards

Release history