"Happy Ever After" is a song recorded by Australian singer and songwriter

Ricki-Lee Coulter Ricki-Lee Dawn Coulter (born 10 November 1985), also known mononymously as Ricki-Lee, is a New Zealand-born Australian singer, songwriter, television, and radio presenter. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, grew up on the Gold Coast, Qu ...

. It was written by Coulter, David Schuler and Hal Linton. The song was originally included on the digital

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) of Coulter's previous single " All We Need Is Love". It was later released on 11 July 2014 as the second single from her fourth studio album, '' Dance in the Rain''. Upon its release, "Happy Ever After" debuted at number 65 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Coulter promoted the song on television and radio programs. It was also part of her set list for the Australian leg of Jason Derulo's

Tattoos World Tour Tattoos World Tour was a world tour by R&B and pop singer Jason Derulo. It was his second headlining world tour and his first headlining tour since he broke a vertebra in January 2012 while rehearsing for his Future History World Tour, leading t ...

, where she was the supporting act.

Writing and lyrics

"Happy Ever After" was written by

, David Schuler and Hal Linton. In 2013, Coulter travelled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and held a studio session with Schuler and Linton. During the session, she remembered hearing the instrumental track that Schuler had played to her a few weeks earlier because "it was mesmerizing" and she "loved it instantly". Coulter then suggested that they write the lyrics to "Happy Ever After" over the track's

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

and

kick drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

. She said, "As we slowly wrote this song I realised just how special it was. The guitar hook was hypnotic, the melody was sweet and soulful and the track had so much heart...it was magic." Coulter called "Happy Ever After" her favourite song she has ever written and said it is a continuation of her 2011 release " Raining Diamonds". Lyrically, the song finds Coulter, as the female protagonist, singing "about new beginnings and starting a life together" with her partner. In an interview with '' The Daily Telegraph'', Coulter stated that the song is based on her relationship with fiancé Rich Harrison, saying that it "is about that fairytale love and meeting the person who makes you whole. It's about Rich, it's about our lives and our future together."

Release

"Happy Ever After" was originally featured as a B-side on the digital

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) of Coulter's previous single " All We Need Is Love". It was later released on 11 July 2014 as the second single from Coulter's fourth studio album, '' Dance in the Rain''. According to Kathy McCabe of

News.com.au news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport. Staff The organiza ...

, Australian pop radio stations quickly added "Happy Ever After" to their playlists following its release. The song debuted and peaked at number 65 on ARIA Singles Chart issue dated 21 July 2014 and became Coulter's sixteenth entry on that chart. "Happy Ever After" fell out of the chart's top one hundred the following week.

Promotion

In April–May 2014, Coulter was the supporting act for Jason Derulo's Australian leg of his

, where she performed "Happy Ever After" as part of her

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

. Coulter stated that seeing a positive reaction from the crowd is the reason she decided to release "Happy Ever After" as a single, saying: "Every single night I was blown away by how amazing the response was! Every night, people lit up the arena with their flashlights and to see the look on so many of their faces during the song was incredible." On 16 July 2014, Coulter appeared on Nova 96.9's ''

Fitzy and Wippa ''Fitzy and Wippa'' is an Australian breakfast radio show on Nova 96.9 in Sydney, Australia. It is hosted by comedians Ryan "Fitzy" Fitzgerald, Michael "Wippa" Wipfli with Sarah McGilvray. The show airs from 6 am to 9 am on weekday mo ...

'' breakfast show to promote the single. She performed "Happy Ever After" during the seventh live decider show of the sixth season of ''

The X Factor Australia ''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...

'' on 23 September 2014. For the performance, Coulter wore a

Vera Wang Vera Ellen Wang (; born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer. Early life Vera Ellen Wang was born June 27, 1949 in New York City to Chinese parents who emigrated to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother, Florence Wu (Wu ...

wedding gown with a jewel encrusted belt, as a nod to the media's interest in her upcoming wedding to Harrison and a homage to Madonna in her " Like a Virgin" music video. Yasmin Vought of TVFix called it a "stunning performance", while ''Out In Perth'' described Coulter's gown as "eye catching". ''

Take 40 Australia ''Take 40 Australia'' was Australia's first and longest-running music countdown. It counted down the official top 40 singles on the ARIA chart on a weekly basis. It was broadcast nationally each week to over 1.2 million listeners. Starting i ...

'' wrote that she looked like a "princess" and sounded "like a bonafide diva".

Track listing

*Digital download #"Happy Ever After" (Radio Edit) – 3:45

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles Ricki-Lee Coulter songs EMI Records singles Songs written by Ricki-Lee Coulter Songs written by David Schuler Songs written by Hal Linton