A post by Peter Jordens.

‘Happy’ is a song performed, written and produced by American singer and producer Pharrell Williams, from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack album. It was released in November 2013 along with a long-form music video, via the website http://24hoursofhappy.com, that was advertised as “the world’s first 24-hour music video. The video consists of the four-minute original song repeated with various people dancing and miming along.

The video, which has some 5 million hits on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0A3-wc0rpw), has spurred an international viral trend as videos are popping up online of people dancing to ‘Happy’ in the streets of everywhere from Tokyo and Moscow to Sousse and Madagascar. It did not take long for a Jamaican video version to appear, dubbed #JamaicaHappy:

As Ken English of Caribbean Riddims reports, thousands of Jamaicans home and abroad are now dancing to #JamaicaHappy. Spearheaded by Digicel [the mobile telecommunications corporation] in Jamaica, the Jamaican video was released on Youtube on Friday, February 7, 2014 and […] has been shared and retweeted by a number of international and local celebrities, including Pharrell Williams himself, […] Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and Tessanne Chin, as well as notable corporate companies across Jamaica including Grace Foods, KFC Jamaica, Island Car Rentals, Jamaica National, Half Moon Resorts and Lime.

Over the course of two days, film director Jay Will along with Kimala Bennett from The Production Lab travelled across Jamaica with members of Digicel’s marketing team to capture footage of people from different walks of life who all have one thing in common – they’re happy. Kimala Bennett shared that, “It’s not every day we get to work on something that shows such an unfiltered and pure expression of our country, our enthusiasm for such a project is probably only matched by the enthusiasm by which it was received.” This sentiment was seconded by Jay Will.

In speaking to Digicel’s Marketing Director, Peter Lloyd, on the inspiration behind the making of the video and why it was not branded when it was initially released, he said that, “#JamaicaHappy is not about Digicel, it’s about Jamaica smiling as a nation and we are doing our part in fostering this joy.” Lloyd, while admitting that the overwhelming feedback to the video caught them by surprise, further shared that, “We are heartened by the response to this video that really inspires our customers and the wider Jamaica to think about all the things that are positive and uplifting about Jamaica. We pride ourselves in being marketing innovators and we are always looking for new, fresh ways to engage our customers and #JamaicaHappy has helped us to continue this tradition.”

For the full article, go to http://caribbeanriddims.com/jamaicahappy-a-smashing-hit.

Also check http://www.jamaicansmusic.com/news/Culture/Jamaicans_Clap_Along_To_Pharrell_Williams_Happy.