Hear ‘Happy People’ Writer Hailey Whitters’ Take on Little Big Town’s 2017 Single
Hailey Whitters' "Happy People" is the "whatever puts a smile on your face" in the lyrics. The singer-songwriter has released a lighthearted animated music video for the song, first cut by Little Big Town.
Whitters co-wrote "Happy People" with lauded songwriter Lori McKenna, who has also released a take on the song, on 2018's The Tree. Little Big Town had made the optimistic track a single, from their The Breaker album, one year prior.
“This song has always felt like a step-by-step guide to happiness," Whitters says in a press release. "I wanted the visual to be bright and colorful to match the character of the record, as well as accessible to both children and adults. My friend Drew Wittler did the animation and he sprinkled Easter eggs throughout of my musical imprint and Iowa upbringing. My aim is to take viewers on a walk through my ‘happy place’ and hopefully remind them of their own along the way.”
Whitters' take on the song is a bit less polished and a bit more traditional than LBT's version, which charted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Harmonica and electric guitar flourishes highlight Whitters' easy, Kacey Musgraves-esque delivery.
Whitters' "Happy People" appears on her album The Dream, released earlier this year via her own Pigasus Records; the project also includes, among others, the acclaimed "Janice at the Hotel Bar." She recently partnered with the female-focused Songs & Daughters record label for her own Pigasus Records imprint.
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