The Happy Loop

Pharrell’s Happy became one of those songs that’s everywhere before you really notice it happening. The 24-hour video was part of that: an endless loop of people dancing, smiling, repeating the same moment over and over until it starts to feel less like a song and more like a spell.

I never watched all of it, but the premise appealed to me—this commitment to pure brightness for a full day. In November especially, when the light goes flat and everyone’s mood sinks with it, there’s something almost radical about that. The song itself is aggressively cheerful in a way that should be unbearable but somehow isn’t.