Aaron Smith is stepping into a new chapter of his career, and we’re absolutely stoked to see what he has up his sleeve as sadHAPPY! If you haven’t heard his music yet, you’re in for a treat with the uplifting ‘Better Everyday,’ an anthem all about leaving the past behind to become the best version of yourself. It’s everything you’d want in a motivational song, empowering you to push through what’s hurting you because you deserve to live the life you want.
Now put your happy face on, because we got to ask sadHAPPY all about ‘Better Everyday,’ his progression from ballads to dance-worthy bops, and more! Check out ‘Better Everyday’ below and keep reading to learn all about the song and music video…
Congratulations on your new single, ‘Better Everyday!’ How are you feeling about sharing the song and stepping into this new chapter?
Hey! Thank you so much, that means a lot! I’m feeling really good about ‘Better Everyday’ and this new chapter I’m stepping into. It’s just nice to switch things up a little and play music that excites me, and to work with some amazing people.
One of our favorite lyrics on ‘Better Everyday’ is from the second verse – “I finally got myself from under this cloud.” What inspires you to push to get better every day and push those clouds away?
The meaning of pushing the clouds away is referencing all the baggage and anxiety that we carry around with us. I try to look after myself as best as I can and eat healthy, get to the gym, meditate, and just try not to be too hard on myself (which is easier said than done).
We adore the ‘Better Everyday’ music video, which sees you using the video budget to help LA drivers pay for a tank of gas. What inspired the video concept, and what was it like to see how people reacted to that act of kindness?
Aw, thanks so much. I had been really inspired by the random acts of kindness videos you see on YouTube; they’re always so positive and really highlight how just being kind to someone can make such a difference to how they might be feeling. And so I wanted to do something similar for this song, which is about being kind to yourself and celebrating the little victories along your mental health journey. When we were shooting, it really made me appreciate what I have in my life. I’m very good at complaining about what I don’t have rather than appreciating what I do have. And that really put things into perspective for me because we could lose what we do have at any moment.
‘Better Everyday’ is the first song we’ve gotten from you as sadHAPPY! What inspired you to change your artist name?
I feel like my head, like a lot of the world, can be a very sadHAPPY place. I’m in a good place in my life now but I struggle day to day with anxiety and depression, so I try to see the happiness in what I have today and I just wanna enforce that through my music. So that’s what inspired the change!
We love the juxtaposition between “sad” and “HAPPY” in your stage name! Do you feel that your music leans in either direction, or is it a balance somewhere in the middle?
When I’m writing, I always try to go for the meaningful concepts and just write about things that are going on in my life, which is usually the “sad” element. And with the production, I wanted to take it in the dance/pop direction, so you get the “HAPPY” elements. I feel like they work really well as I’m still bringing the style of writing from when I used to put out more sad songs.
A lot of your earlier hits are gorgeous, piano-led ballads, and we love how diverse your catalog already is! With this new chapter, you’ve been releasing more upbeat tracks – is the change in sound something you thought about doing, or did it happen naturally?
I feel like it was a gradual progression for me. I definitely found myself going into sessions and writing different styles of music and listening to more pop and dance music. Then I started to bring those songs I’d been falling in love with into writing sessions and saying “I wanna write a song like this!” and it just naturally turned into sadHAPPY. I’d say over a year ago was when we started to see the progression but I’m so buzzing that I did it.
Do you approach working on your more energetic, upbeat songs differently than your slower, more mellow songs? What’s your creative process like?
When I was doing the more mellow stuff like ‘Unspoken’ and ‘Better Than You Loved Me,’ I would usually start off on a piano and just play around until I found some chords and start singing some melodies, then it would all build from there. Now I do a similar thing but I usually mess around with some synths and samples until I find something I like and it’s very production-led at the start. Once we’ve built some structure to the song, we then start writing lyrics. I get so inspired by production and interesting sounds and I feel like that can almost tell you what the song wants to be about.
You recently shared on Instagram that you finished off a week of “writing with some class people!” How do you decide who to work with? Did you learn anything new from the collaborators you wrote with?
So I was in Barcelona at a writing camp and it was amazing. I got to write with some super talented people. It’s usually a collaborative thing on whether we’d like to work with each other. I usually just hit the people up that I want to work with and see if they are up for it!
Since 2019, you’ve been giving us so many thoughtful ballads and dance-worthy anthems with important meanings! How do you feel you’ve grown since debuting with ‘Unspoken?’
I definitely think I’ve changed a lot since putting out ‘Unspoken.’ I was in a different place in my life and I’ve made a lot of positive changes since then; my taste in music and how I write has changed a lot for the better!
What can we expect from sadHAPPY in the rest of 2022? We can’t wait to see what the future holds for you!
For the rest of 2022 I’m gonna keep writing and get the rest of the music ready to go in 2023, which I’m so so excited about! Thank you!
More music from sadHAPPY coming soon? Sign us right up! We had the best time talking to Aaron and learning more about his impressive catalog. Now we wanna hear from you – what’s your favorite song he’s released, whether it’s as Aaron Smith or sadHAPPY? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! And for more exclusive interviews with the best rising artists, click here.
