Despicable Me 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the 2013 film Despicable Me 2; the sequel to Despicable Me (2010). The album was released on July 2, 2013, through Back Lot Music. The original music was composed by Heitor Pereira and Pharrell Williams, who previously scored for Despicable Me. The soundtrack to the film featured 24 tracks – eight songs and the remainder of the album, consists of original score tracks. Out of the eight songs, three original tracks, written by Williams, were featured in the album as well as the tracks "Another Irish Drinking Song", "I Swear" and "Y.M.C.A." were incorporated into the album. Besides that, two tracks from Despicable Me: "Fun, Fun, Fun" and the titular track is also featured in the soundtrack. The track "Happy" served as the only single from the album released on November 21, 2013, by Back Lot Music, and was also part of Williams' second studio album Girl (2014). A visual presentation of the track, being advertised as "the world's first 24-hour music video" coincided the single, featuring Williams and directed by We Are from LA, and went viral upon release. Besides, topping the charts in over 19 countries, it was the best-selling song of 2014 in the United States and United Kingdom. The song also received an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards, but lost the award to "Let It Go" from Frozen. Eight years after the single release, the track "Just a Cloud Away" was released in March 2022.

Background

The co-director of Despicable Me 2, Chris Renaud had recalled the "distinctive music of the first film" that born out of the collaboration between Pereira and Williams, leading them to work for its sequel. Pereira attributed that for El Macho, being a Mexican wrestler and the main antagonist, had to implement "full choir with a latin flair to emphasize his presence". Pereira also created new themes for the characters, including for the minions, whose themes needed to be "more threatening and menacing". Williams and Pereira discussed about several main themes for the album, and went ahead with the overarching theme, which was not about the characters but much about the air of the film. He added that the "continuity was honestly based on lifting people up emotionally". Williams wrote three original songs, including the popular track "Happy" that was released as a single on November 21, 2013, to wider commercial success. In a 2014 interview to The New York Times, Williams recalled that the song was rejected nine times, by the producer Chris Meledandri, before finally being approved. He finished writing the song within 20 minutes. The song was initially intended to be written for CeeLo Green (who earlier sang another track "Scream"), but due to conflicts with CeeLo's record company Elektra Records, as he was on the verge of releasing his 2013 Christmas album, Williams himself sang the track, instead. Speaking on the integration of the film songs into the score, Pereira said "Unless there is a reason in the story, you don't want it to be a surprise, so you have to tease the ears with what is going to come in the song before it begins".

Promotions and marketing

As a part of promotions, Williams came up with a website 24hoursofhappy.com, launched to coincide with the single release, featuring a visual presentation of "Happy" advertised as being "the world's first 24-hour music video", directed by the French directing team We Are from LA. The video went viral upon its premiere, and attributed to the massive success of the song. The four-minute video edit of the song released on YouTube on November 21, and as of March 2018, it crossed over 1 billion views. Eight years after the film's release, Williams released the lyrical song "Just a Cloud Away" on March 25, 2022, to wider commercial response.

Track listing

Commercial performance

"Happy" topped the musical charts in over 19 countries. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 8, 2014, and the following week, and also topped the Hot 100 Airplay chart. It holds the record for the second-highest audience peak for a week on the Hot 100 Airplay, with 225.9 million impressions, only behind Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines". It also topped the New Zealand Singles Chart holding the first position for 12 consecutive weeks, since January 2014, and broke the 36-year-long record for most weeks spent at #1, which was previously held by Boney M.'s 1970 single "Rivers of Babylon". It also became the best-selling single of UK and US in 2014, with 1.5 and 6.45 million copies sold for the year, respectively. The soundtrack consecutively listed in the first 10 positions of the UK Soundtracks Chart by the Official Charts Company. It also topped the 86th position in Billboard 200, and further listed in number 19 in the Independent Albums chart and in the top-third of Billboard soundtracks chart, since 2014.

Chart positions

Accolades

At the 86th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2014, Williams' song "Happy" was nominated for Best Original Song, but lost to "Let It Go" from Frozen. When GQ magazine asked Williams "how badly" he wanted the Oscar, he responded: "When they read the results, my face was...frozen. But then I thought about it, and I just decided just to... let it go." The music video for "Happy" was nominated for Best Male Video and Video of the Year at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, and in the same ceremony, a live rendition of the song, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance. However, the song failed to shortlist at the Best Song Written for Visual Media category.

Personnel credits

Credits adapted from CD liner notes:

= Soundtrack

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= Score

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Notes

References