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Happiness
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Happiness Image
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 57 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut album for the duo from Manchester, England, features Kylie Minogue on one track.

Top Track

Wonderful Life
On a bridge across the Severn on a Saturday night, Susie meets the man of her dreams. He says that he got in trouble and if she doesn't mind He... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. PopMatters
    90
    Singer Theo Hutchcraft's voice is dramatic but elegant and carries each melody with a sense of purpose. His delivery is calm and composed, but he lets the words he has written speak for themselves; there's no ambiguity in these words.
  2. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Only a joyless weirdo could deny that these are fearsomely well-crafted songs, as clean-lined and immaculate as a well-cut suit.
  3. BBC Music
    60
    Style and gravitas are all very well--if Hurts could also have been consistent with the substance, Happiness would have trounced its 80s counterparts and many of its contemporaries, too.
  4. Drowned In Sound
    50
    Happiness promises the rough edges and absurdity of one era's pop, but for the most part gives the mum-friendliness of the next. Hurts would surely be better if they committed to one or the other.
  5. Uncut
    40
    Their slick, synth-heavy commuter pop is rendered faintly exotic only because you never imagine anyone wanting to make pop music as frigidly bombastic as this again. [Sep 2010, p.90]
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  6. Q Magazine
    40
    Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson prove to be a depressingly ordinary package of overblown melodies and musty lyrical cliches, expensively ribboned with choirs and orchestras. [Sep 2010, p.116]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Clash Music
    40
    Unfortunately, the album barely reaches the most reasonable of expectations. The strength of their flawless magnum opus, 'Better Than Love', overshadows every other song on the LP.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. le_one
    Jul 22, 2013
    10
    Masterpiece. The perfect simple synth-pop album with lyrics of love and loss. This album is everything that today's pop music wish it was, butMasterpiece. The perfect simple synth-pop album with lyrics of love and loss. This album is everything that today's pop music wish it was, but it ain't. I have no words to express how much I love it and there's no way I could give it less than a 10. Every single song here is exceptional and unforgettable in my life. I beg you: Buy it.… Expand
  2. Insatiableone
    Dec 31, 2010
    9
    The songs from Happiness are thoughtful, melancholy and very modern. I must admit, the album has a real sense of style that's been missing inThe songs from Happiness are thoughtful, melancholy and very modern. I must admit, the album has a real sense of style that's been missing in British pop for some time. Joe Copplestone of Pop Matters is bang on the money when he said that the duo sings "simple lyrical messages of love, pain and yearning that most pop acts could not deliver sincerely if they tried". I implore you to buy this.… Collapse
  4. kowalski
    Mar 15, 2013
    8
    A very well crafted debut bold, imaginative, and original. Silver lining serves as the perfect opening, a perfect pop song with an edge;A very well crafted debut bold, imaginative, and original. Silver lining serves as the perfect opening, a perfect pop song with an edge; Wonderful life is well known for everyone who hasn't been living under a rock; Sunday, Stay, Better than love stand out as perfectly produced and sung higher-shelf-pop anthems. Happiness takes pop to a higher level, and does so without looking down on the rest.… Expand
  5. owenrw89
    Dec 11, 2016
    8
    It's filled with bold, dark, electronic joy. It unapologetically makes nods to the synth pop masters of the 80's, and it's all the moreIt's filled with bold, dark, electronic joy. It unapologetically makes nods to the synth pop masters of the 80's, and it's all the more loveable for doing so. It does to sway towards the dull and dreary near the end, but the first part is so exciting that you can easily forgive this.… Expand
  6. rawburn
    Oct 19, 2010
    7
    Half mediocre, half amazing to my ears. Not necessarily anything new in terms of sound, but a refreshing change from much of the hum-drum outHalf mediocre, half amazing to my ears. Not necessarily anything new in terms of sound, but a refreshing change from much of the hum-drum out there right now. 'Better Than Love' is the stand-out track, but 'Stay' should get them plenty of airplay.… Expand
  7. Fuerstenberg
    Feb 13, 2022
    6
    Almost twelve years later, no album sounds more like 2010 pop than Hurts' debut album "Happiness", which is all about loss and love.Almost twelve years later, no album sounds more like 2010 pop than Hurts' debut album "Happiness", which is all about loss and love. Unfortunately, only a few songs are delicately crafted. Overall, the music is too thin and sparse as well as lacking thematic depth and versatility.

    "Happiness" is carried by "Wonderful Life", "Better Than Love" and "Stay", since the rest of the songs are just not consistent enough and are overshadowed by the aforementioned. All in all, the amount of synth sounds wants to be more epochal, monumental and defining than it really is.

    My favorites:
    "Wonderful Life"
    "Better Than Love"
    "Stay"

    ~ Fürstenberg
    February 13, 2022    … Expand