Lisa Antao, our dna correspondent, talks about her personal experience on being featured in the Indian version of Pharrel Williams global-hit, Happy
Happiness
"Hey Lisa, we're making an Indian version of Pharrel's Happy song, and we want you to be a part of it. Are you free in the afternoon today?" I was asked over the phone, two weeks ago. I nervously laughed replying, "Gee! I'm very flattered but I think I'll have to pass this one, I'm very camera shy!" Subsequently, I was cajoled into saying a yes for it by a persuasive lady, as some of my other friends too were going to be a part of it. Happy by Pharrel, a highly-infectious feel-good number is certainly a mood booster, but its ability to spring life into my body to dance in front of the camera came as a surprise to me, because I have been a bathroom dancer all my life. When the shoot happened, I was petrified. I took a deep breath and gave some of my bathroom dance moves. I was relieved after seeing the footage and waited when it would be put online and on-air. Later, everyone who saw the video complimented me, and it surely feels nice. I am glad I said yes. It was a triumph for me to dance in front of the camera, even if it was for a couple of minutes. The song makes me 'Happy', but reminds me of the courage it took me to get over my camera-shyness.
Who's Pharrel Williams?
Pharrel Williams is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, musician, and fashion designer. He is one half of the record production-duo The Neptunes, that has produced numerous hit singles for various recording artists. The song Happy was written, sung and produced by Williams from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack album, and is also lead single from Williams' second studio album, G I R L. "Happy" is a neo-soul and funk song that Williams sings in falsetto. A highly successful number, it has topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and charts in 23 other countries. The song was also nominated for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards.
About the video:
To coincide with the single release, the website 24hoursofhappy.com was launched featuring a visual presentation of "Happy" advertised as being "the world's first 24-hour music video". The video consists of the four-minute song repeated with various people dancing around Los Angeles and miming along. The original video spawned many cover videos on YouTube in which people from different cities throughout the world dance along the song, the Indian version being - PHARRELL WILLIAMS - HAPPY (INDIA) #HAPPYDAY
How did it happen?
The song became an instant hit that it spurred people from various countries to do their own version of the video. As for the India version, the video was shot in three cities—Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi in a span of four days. But rather than just having shot random people dance to the song, the makers of the India version, specifically, wanted fans of the song. "We looked for individuals who were fans of the songs via Twitter and other social media platforms. They just HAD to be Happy fans," says a spokesperson from Sony Music Entertainment India.
Link to the video:
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