"Makin' Happy" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house music, house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits "Gypsy Woman (Crystal Waters song), Gypsy Woman", "100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Cal ...

, released in 1991 by Mercury and A&M as the second single from her debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' Surprise'' (1991). It was the follow-up to Waters' hugely successful song " Gypsy Woman" and achieved moderate success in European countries. Waters co-wrote it with Neal Conway and Mark Harris, and it was produced by

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

production team The Basement Boys. In the US, the song spent one week at number-one 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 advertis ...

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart and it also reached the top of the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Dance/Urban chart. In the UK, the single peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart.

Critical reception

Alex Henderson from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

complimented the song as a "highly addictive and enjoyable

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

/ neo-disco fare".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

'' described it as "a frenetic and hypnotic jam". He remarked that it "maintains a similar

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ...

vibe s her first single Waters more than proves her songwriting talent here, while her unique feline vocals will test some and delight others." Andy Kastanas from ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. It is owned by Chatham Asset ...

'' declared it as "a housy tune that's bound to, well, make you happy, what else?" Jennifer Bowles from ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' called it "a song about, well, "makin' whoopie"" and added that it's "self-explanatory - there's little stories going on in the song. It's just a fun song." Push from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' felt it "would certainly do well as a follow-up. You might mistake it for Flowered Up's "Take It" until the oompah-bumped house beats and Crystal's jazzy vocals weigh in. The lyrics are basically all about having sex, when, where and how you fancy." Machgiel Bakker from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' called it "pop-house". An editor also commented in an album review, "Just repeat the words 'Makin' Happy' endlessly and you'll get a good flavour of ' Gypsy Woman, Part II'."

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update wrote that "the strange nasally pitched girl is less

Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...

-like for her follow-up to 'Gypsy Woman', a jauntly trotting repetitive canterer with some "''ooh wee ooh wee ooh''" (and a guy's "''so happy''") instead of all the "''la da dee, la dee da''"." Stuart Maconie from ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' declared it as "a spectacularly bangin' tune". Jonathan Bernstein from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' described it as "ebullient".

Chart performance

"Makin' Happy" enjoyed moderate success on the charts in both Europe and North-America. The single peaked at number one on both the US ''

chart and the Canadian ''

'' Dance/Urban chart. It did also top the ''Billboard''

Dance Singles Sales The Dance Singles Sales was a record chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling dance singles in the United States. Its previous names include Hot Dance/Disco 12-inch Singles Sales (1985–1987), Hot Dance Mu ...

chart, as well as peaking at number 58 on the ''Billboard'' Radio Songs chart and number 63 on the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. In Europe, "Makin' Happy" entered the top 10 in Italy (9) and was a top-20 hit in France (17) and on the UK Singles Chart (18) in the UK. Additionally, it was a top-30 hit in Belgium (21) and Ireland (22), and a top-40 hit on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, peaking at number 33 in October 1991. But on the

European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine ''Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginni ...

, it was far more successful, reaching number five.

Track listing and formats

* UK 7-inch vinyl single # "Makin' Happy" ( Hurley's Happy House Mix) – 3:49 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Club Mix) – 3:31 * UK CD maxi-single # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Happy House Mix) – 3:49 # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Happy House Mix II) – 6:22 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Club Mix) – 3:31 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Club Mix II) – 7:52 * Netherlands and UK 12-inch vinyl single # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's happy house mix) – 6:22 # "Makin' Happy" (basement boys happy club mix) – 7:52 * UK CD maxi-single # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Happy House Mix 7") – 3:52 # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Happy House Mix 12") – 6:24 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Club Mix 12") – 7:52 * US 12-inch vinyl maxi-single # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Happy House Mix) – 6:23 # "Makin' Happy" (Hurley's Insane Mix) – 6:24 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Club Mix) – 7:52 # "Makin' Happy" (Basement Boys Happy Hump) – 6:14

Charts

References

{{authority control 1993 singles Crystal Waters songs 1991 songs Mercury Records singles