• Record Label: RCA
  • Release Date: Sep 6, 2010
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 57 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 57
  2. Negative: 1 out of 57

Review this album

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. 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 out there right now. 'Better Than Love' is the stand-out track, but 'Stay' should get them plenty of airplay.
  2. 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 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.
  3. 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 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.
  4. 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, 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.
  5. 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; 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.
  6. 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. 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
    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
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 9
  2. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.