London newcomers Tough Cookie unravel the messy, maddening pursuit of joy in their hard-hitting second single “Happiness,” an all-consuming, achingly raw, and emotionally charged alt-rock fever dream.
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Stream: “Happiness” – Tough Cookie
“But happiness is whatever you make of it.”
Tough Cookie’s second-ever single poses an interesting point: We’re all chasing something – that much we can surely agree on – but won’t that ‘something’ change from person to person? Who are we to lay judgment on another’s version of love, or joy, or happiness? Who are we to decide which causes are right and just, and which causes are wrong or reprehensible?
So much in life is subjective, and on “Happiness,” British indie rock band Tough Cookie take a hard, unflinching and unfiltered look at the world, reckoning with that great pursuit and the lengths some will go to get their high.
Because at some point, each of us has to ask: What does happiness actually look like, how can we get there, and what is it worth?
It must be hard to change.
Sarah says to let it go,
quit selling dope.
The rashes on your skin
are creeping up in small talk
amongst your friends
But happiness is
whatever you make of it.
Released April 24th via Gravity Records / Capitol Records UK, “Happiness” is an intimate, all-consuming, and emotionally charged alt-rock fever dream. The follow-up to February’s debut single “Emory” finds Tough Cookie – the London-based four-piece of August Tse, Daniel Hvorostovsky, Jess Ayres, and Gavin Sullivan – in a moment of raw reflection and upheaval.
Whereas “happiness” itself feels intensely personal (as August Tse sings, “happiness is whatever you make of it”), the track’s hard-hitting chorus attempts to unpack and even understand the very nature of that pursuit – an endless chase that never seems to end in well in ‘real’ life. “Open up my eyes, show me something real,” an amped-up Tse implores over roaring guitars and churning drums. “Oh my God! It must be so good to feel absolutely nothing.”
It must be kind of fun
living in a woozy world
letting rumours do the rounds.
The doctor says
a habit will just rot your head
But happiness is
whatever you make of it.
Open up my eyes, show me something real.
Oh my God! It must be so good to feel absolutely nothing.
I don’t need a shrink ‘cause this feels like the real thing.
Oh my God! It must be so good to feel absolutely nothing.
“When Dan and I started writing the instrumental, we already had that guitar melody for the verse, and we ended up building the whole arrangement around it,” Tse tells Atwood Magazine. “Some of the lyrics came together as we went, and it felt like the music needed a shift in gear to match the song’s narrative. We wanted the structure and movement of the track to mirror the unpredictable, often chaotic nature of life in the pursuit of happiness.”
You’re selling kids a dream
of Armageddon fantasy and entropy
Hungry for a break
Where have the days of happiness gone?
You’ve been self-aware for far too long to still be here
In songs and stories, fables and fairytales, there’s a ‘happily ever after’ – but that doesn’t exist here in the wild. We lose our childhood innocence once we inevitably realize that truth… that every high is temporary, every sweet moment temporary. And yet, that is what so many people live for; the moments that make all the rest of it worth our while. Is it a fair exchange? Is it the right thing to do?
Tough Cookie don’t have all the answers, but they might agree that life, just like their very band, is one tough cookie. Get lost in the searing, seductive, and intoxicating fervor of “Happiness, “and stay tuned for more to come from the London-based newcomers as they continue to introduce themselves and establish their place in alternative rock’s current landscape.
But I guess happiness is
whatever you make of it.
Call in sick tomorrow
Make my bed another day
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Stream: “Happiness” – Tough Cookie
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