"Happy Now" is a song by German music producer

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...

and American singer Elley Duhé. Written by Noonie Bao,

Sarah Aarons Sarah Paige Aarons (born 4 October 1994, previously known as Paige IV and sometimes simply as Sarah) is an Australian songwriter. Originally from Bentleigh, Melbourne, she attended McKinnon Secondary College in McKinnon. Now based in Los Ange ...

and its producers Zedd and Lotus IV, the song was released by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

on 18 July 2018.

Background

Initially titled "Are You Happy Now" featuring Norwegian singer Sigrid, the song was first revealed during a cover shoot interview in 2017 with ''

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'' magazine. On 3 July 2018, Zedd debuted the song at his Zedd in the Park festival, where he brought Elley Duhé on stage for a live performance. Duhé posted a short video of the performance on social media with the caption: "Not gonna lie my eartis pretty full". Zedd officially announced the song's release date and unveiled its cover art on 13 July, and later teased the lyrics in multiple tweets. He premiered the song on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

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radio show as the World Record of the day. During the radio interview, Zedd explained the reason behind working with Duhé: "I think why I really gravitated towards her was that she had a genuine and honest approach to the song and she felt vulnerable and real." Duhé said of the song in a press statement: "To me, 'Happy Now' is more than just a song. It's a significant moment in my life, the golden opportunity to work with one of the greatest DJ's/producer of our time. Being able to come together with complete strangers to do something beautiful, sing something meaningful, to share something special is what 'Happy Now' is all about."

Composition

"Happy Now" is a post-breakup pop ballad, stylized as a "vocal-centric pop/electronic hybrid". It opens with an acoustic guitar line, before becoming "a bounding, chiming pile of percussion", eventually ending with "Zedd's signature robotic voice". The drop features a "memorable beat" composed of "whimsical, multi-toned synths cascading in mid-tempo, mellifluous breakdowns". In a press release, Zedd regarded "Happy Now" as "the most organic sounding song e hasmade in a long time", noting that the majority of the song was recorded using real instrumentation, specifically "a lot of pianos and a lot of guitars". Lyrically, he described the song as "both happy and sad at the same time", while musically, the song "rather leans towards a happier, sunnier side".

Remixes

On 21 September 2018, the official remix EP was released consisting of 5 remixes from DJ Marc Benjamin, DJ duo BEAUZ, DJ duo Duke & Jones, DJ MXXWLL & DJ duo Magnificence.

Critical reception

Rachel Narozniak of

Dancing Astronaut Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content syn ...

called the song a representation of "yet another sonic step in a direction opposite the high-powered electro constructions of earlier foundational singles like "

Clarity Clarity may refer to: Music Albums * ''Clarity'' (Jimmy Eat World album) or the title song, 1999 * ''Clarity'' (Sifow album) or the title song, 2006 * ''Clarity'' (Zedd album) or the title song (see below), 2012 * ''Clarity'' (mixtape), by K ...

" and " Stay the Night'". She noticed a more minimalist melodic arrangement in the song than that in "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

" or " The Middle".

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *

– production, mixing * Elley Duhé – vocals * Lotus IV – production * Mike Marsh – master engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2010s ballads 2018 singles 2018 songs Zedd songs Elley Duhé songs Interscope Records singles Pop ballads Songs written by Linus Wiklund Songs written by Noonie Bao Songs written by Sarah Aarons Songs written by Zedd