"It Happens" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

. It was released in February 2009 as the third single from their album ''

Love on the Inside ''Love on the Inside'' is the third studio album by American country music duo Sugarland, first released on July 22, 2008, as a Deluxe Fan Edition, including five bonus tracks, with the standard edition one week later, on July 29, on Mercury Nashv ...

''. The duo's members,

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based band ...

and

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyr ...

, wrote the song along with

Bobby Pinson Bobby Olen Pinson (born August 10, 1972) is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2005, Pinson made his debut that year with his album ''Man Like Me''. Its lead-off single, " Don't Ask Me How I Know", peaked at No. ...

, with whom the duo also co-wrote the album's first two singles, "

All I Want to Do "All I Want to Do" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in May 2008 as the first single from their album ''Love on the Inside'', which was released on July 22, 2008. The duo's two members, l ...

" and " Already Gone". To date, this is Sugarland’s last number one song.

Content

"It Happens" is an up-tempo accompanied by steel-string acoustic guitar and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

. In it, the female narrator (

, the duo's lead singer) tells of oversleeping and coming to work late. She borrows her neighbor's car to drive to " Wally World" in the second verse, and is involved in an accident with her ex and his new girlfriend. A "Pssh" sound precedes the phrase "It happens" on all but the second chorus, so as to make the phrase sound like "

shit happens ''Shit happens'' is a slang phrase that is used as a simple existential observation that life is full of unpredictable events, similar to "c'est la vie". The phrase is an acknowledgment that bad things happen to people seemingly for no particul ...

Critical reception

In his review of the album, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' critic Chris Willman said that the song recalled "cheekily potty-mouthed hits like

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

's '

Some Beach "Some Beach" is a song written by Rory Feek and Paul Overstreet and recorded by American country music artist Blake Shelton. It was released in July 2004 as the second single from Shelton's 2004 album '' Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill''. The song b ...

'." Thom Jurek of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

cited the song as an example of the album's personal influence, as Nettles had gone through a divorce while writing it. Matt Bjorke described the song favorably as well in his review for the Roughstock website. He called it "a playful, irreverent song" and considered it a better single choice than "Love" (which was originally slated as the album's third single), because he thought that "It Happens" showed a more traditionally country sound than "Love" did. Matt C., in his review of the album for Engine 145, said that Nettles seemed to show more interest in "frivolous tracks" such as "It Happens" as compared to the more serious tracks. Country Universe critic Blake Boldt gave it a C rating, saying that it was a "needless novelty" but a "necessary evil in a corporate radio world".

Awards

"It Happens" was nominated at the 52nd Grammy Awards for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group, but lost to Lady Antebellum's "I Run to You."

Personnel

The following musicians play on this track. *Brandon Bush –

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

–

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

*Paul Bushnell –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...

– acoustic guitar *

Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Michael Landau –

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

, background vocals

Chart performance

"It Happens" debuted at #40 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts dated for February 28, 2009. The song became the duo's fifth U.S. Number One song on the chart week of May 23, 2009, holding that position for two weeks.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2009 singles 2008 songs Sugarland songs Novelty songs Songs written by Bobby Pinson Songs written by Kristian Bush Songs written by Jennifer Nettles Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Mercury Nashville singles