Many readers know the 2013 song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. The song hit #1 on the charts in more than two dozen countries in 2014, won several Grammy music awards and was even nominated for an Academy Award for best original song. While I was aware of Pharrell Williams original version of the song, I did not know about 24hoursofhappy.com, his 24 hour interactive video of more than 400 different people dancing in the streets of Los Angeles in a 24 hour loop of the song.
How Pharrell And A Cast Of Hundreds Got Happy For A 24-Hour Interactive Video describes how the original 24 hour video was created.
Not being too big on mainstream pop culture, I might be one of the last people to learn about the “Pharrell Williams – Happy – We Are from [name of the city]” phenomenon that contagiously spread across the world in 2014. This week, after watching the Happy – We are from High Tatras Slovakia video on YouTube, I kept finding other cities and places with Happy dance videos.
Then, I found the website http://wearehappyfrom.com/, where there are currently 1,950 videos from cities and towns around the world. I can’t stop watching a cast of local people dance to Pharrell Williams song Happy in different cities. Most of the videos show the cultural attractions from that location. Not all of them, but a majority of the videos are professional productions and feature talented dancers and actors, young and old people, and generally an interesting cast of local characters.
I find them compelling travel videos for virtually seeing the world. Most of them leave me smiling with the feeling I have toured a new city hanging out with local people. And it sure is cheaper than trying to visit all these places in person.
To give readers who are not familiar with this whole ‘Happy’ video concept and why I enjoy the videos, here are some good examples from cities most readers have probably not visited. This Happy video from Poznan, Poland is one I enjoy. There are four different Happy videos just from Poznan, Poland on the wearehappyfrom.com website. Another one of my favorites I have seen so far is this Happy breakdance version from Rostock, Germany ROSTOCK IS 2 HAPPY – BREAKDANCE CONNEXION MV E.V. & TANZLAND ROSTOCK.
Now I have been infected by the ‘Happy’ contagion. I have spent many hours this week in my hotel rooms touring the world virtually by watching Pharrell Williams inspired videos from dozens of cities (when I could have been sleeping or writing).
Be careful. You might catch this contagion too and find yourself wanting to visit places you never even thought about or heard of before.
Or spending time watching travel dance videos when you could be sleeping or working.
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