Nick Hakim was very prolific during the pandemic. Releasing three projects – his 2020 solo album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD, that set's remix album in 2021 and the collaborative album Small Things with Roy Nathanson that same year – Nick was constantly creating. His creativity streak continues with the release of his latest single and video “Happen.”
From the song’s opening chords, it immediately envelops the senses with a melancholy and hazy warmth. The solemn music belies the fact that Hakim is singing about the transcendent power of love. “Her super nova / Exploded and changed my world / And most my old ways / I found something new from the ocean / I love you, honey / Glad you found me in this life,” he sings in a tender, achy tone reminiscent of Van Hunt.
The accompanying video further iterates the song’s molasses-like flow as we take a slow-motion look at passengers on a train. Directed by Johan Carlsson, we see the passengers going about their day, caught up in their own thoughts. While some are obviously happy, others seem pensive and almost sad, making viewers feel as if we are intruding on a personal moment. We eventually land on a shot of a freshly-shorn Hakim as he stares into the camera.
Conceived by both Hakim and Carlsson, the two wanted to convey the concept of “sonder,” which they define as “the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life with experiences and emotions as vivid and complex as one’s own.”
Though love is at the heart of “Happen,” it feels decidedly unsettled, which may ultimately be the goal. Taken from his upcoming album, Cometa, due out October 21st, Hakim describes the album as a collection of love songs and about finding oneself. “The key is to find that extremity of love for yourself. It’s about growing into someone who you want to be; it’s about finding pure love within yourself when the world around us seems to be crumbling,” he describes in a press release.
Check out Nick Hakim's moody ode to love in audio and video form below, and be sure to pre-save Cometa ahead of its release.
