‘Happiness’ is an album that seemingly hasn’t aged a day. The duo’s breakthrough singles naturally stand-out, from the rebirthed ‘80s pop of ‘Better Than Love’ to the gospel majesty to ‘Stay’ through to the instant classic ‘Wonderful Life’. But it’s also undeniably an album that engages you on a journey, flowing from highlight-to-highlight such as the drama of opener ‘Silver Lining’, the bombastic ‘Devotion’ complete with guest vocals from Kylie Minogue, and regular live highlights such as ‘Sunday’ and ‘Illuminated’.
The original album is expanded upon with bonus material from the era on side-D. It adds ‘Affair’, ‘Mother Nature’ and ‘Happiness’ from the Deluxe Edition, all of which now make their vinyl debut. It’s completed by the anti-festive anthem ‘All I Want for Christmas Is New Year’s Day’ and a ‘Wonderful Life’ remix courtesy of the legendary Arthur Baker.
Praised upon release by NME for “the genius of its construction, its glinting formal perfection,” ‘Happiness’ set the foundations for Hurts’ subsequent career. It reached #4 in the UK, earning Gold certification in recognition of 100,000+ domestic sales It also achieved an array of Top 10 chart positions across Europe as well as 2 x Platinum certifications in both Germany and Poland, with 17 platinum certifications around the world.
Hurts followed ‘Happiness’ with four more acclaimed albums, the most recent of which was 2020’s ‘Faith’. They have won two NME Awards and an ECHO Award, and were also nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award. Recent years have seen Theo Hutchcraft collaborate as a songwriter for artists such as Calvin Harris, Måneskin, CIan Ducrot and Louis Tomlinson.
