Olivia Rodrigo‘s 2021 debut album, Sour, proved her to be a young influential force in pop music. Her influence was demonstrated by the fact that fans sent many of the album tracks flying up the charts, even those that weren’t released as singles. This rings true for “Happier,” the album’s eighth track. Written solely by Rodrigo, “Happier” is one of the songs that helped ignite her career as a superstar. So how did this deep cut end up becoming a hit?
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It all started on Instagram where a then-17-year-old Rodrigo posted a video of herself performing “Happier” at the piano in her bedroom. She wrote the song in 2019 but posted the video in January 2021 that caught the attention of Dan Nigro. “I just got the chills and I was like, ‘Oh my God, her voice is insane,'” Nigro recalled to Billboard about seeing the video. “I literally DM’d her that second and was like, ‘Hey, I think you’re amazing. We should make music.’”
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star told The Hollywood Reporter that inspiration for “Happier” came to her while she was on set filming a TV show. “It’s so funny – inspiration just strikes at random times,” she said of the song she cites as one of her favorites to write. “I was in between takes and I was like ‘Oh, I have this idea,’ and then I just wrote the song on set. So that’s always fun when you kind of get a lightning bolt of an idea.”
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From there, a fruitful partnership flourished, the two co-writing nearly all of the tracks on Rodrigo’s critically and commercially acclaimed Sour, with Nigro also serving as the album’s producer. Upon the album’s release in May 2021, “Happier” shot to No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of three songs not released as singles to achieve the chart feat.
Currently, “Happier” has amassed more than 881 million streams on Spotify. All six of Sour‘s official singles – “Drivers License,” “Deja Vu,” “Good 4 U,” “Traitor” and “Brutal” – all made it onto the Hot 100, with “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U” both clinching the No. 1 spot.
“Happy first birthday to the little song that changed my whole life,” Rodrigo shared on Instagram in January 2022. “I made this video a day or two after I wrote drivers license in my living room (with a very squeaky sustain pedal lol). crazy to think how quickly life changes. thank u to everyone who has supported me so tenderly. music is the most magical thing in the world.”
Photo courtesy of Zamar Velez / UMusic
