Single Review: Bad Idea - Happy

Leeds-based band ‘Bad Idea’ have released their second single of 2021, ‘Happy’.

With melancholic guitars and sweet, wistful melodies, ‘Happy’ is a lo-fi grunge ballad that grapples with emotion, and Bad Idea prove that articulating joy can be just as complex as articulating sadness. ‘Happy’ begins as a simple, hypnotic and comforting track, before deteriorating into a cacophony of confusion, expertly capturing the sometimes disorientating and destabilising effect of happiness, and raising questions as to how we, as people, channel or even understand what we are feeling.

‘Happy’ begins as a woozy, dreamy ear worm with swimming guitar melodies that harken back to the era of 90/00s grunge pop. Lead singer Sarah’s sweet vocals float above, with her repeated refrain of “I’m happy, so” painting the song in a peaceful yellow haze, and it seems like the perfect soundtrack to hear rolling in the background of any American coming-of-age film.

It is easy to fall into the cyclical and hypnotic structure of the song, comforted by the ebb and flow of the guitar melody especially, but beneath the surface there is tension. “All of these feelings of feeling just fine, I don’t understand at all” Sarah laments, questioning the happiness she finds herself burdened with. It seems a fitting conundrum given the current position the world find itself in, where moments of real happiness feel few and far between.

It is the dramatic key change towards the end of the song that is its defining moment. It swiftly turns the track from a whimsical melody into a disorientating frenzy, the previously harmonious notes now discordant and unpleasant, Sarah’s vocals now more an agitated whine than a croon. The contrast is jarring, and the cry of “I’m happy, so” suggests the complete opposite, appearing to cause more pain than pleasure. It is this final section is both agonising and magnificent, when finally the track’s implied strain comes bursting through, and highlights the fragility of the human condition, where emotion overrides and reason is lost.

With ‘Happy’, Bad Idea have proved themselves as an exciting group unafraid to take on the complexities of emotion and inner turmoil. We can’t wait to see what’s next for them.

Words: Megan FitzGerald

Make sure you listen to ‘Happy’ by Bad Idea on the Only A Northern One playlist here.