Rising alternative force Stay Over has released the music video for his latest single “Happy” in partnership with Make Sure Your Friends Are Okay, an organization removing the stigma from mental health by breaking down barriers in communication. Watch the video now below, directed by Bobby Hanaford (Greyson Chance, Vic Mensa, G-Eazy), which assures listeners its okay to be emotional with its warm, lo-fi bedroom beats, arena-ready guitars, and skyscraping choruses. Featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, “Happy” is out now on GRAMMY-nominated artist and producer Cisco Adler’s Bananabeat Records, who produced the track alongside Robbie Winward.
“The video highlights me being awkward and anti-social,” says Stay Over. “It’s how I am a lot of the time. It was filmed during a time where I really wasn’t going outside a lot or socializing with many people. It was directed by my friend Bobby Hanaford and edited by my friend Ben Church. Special thanks to Sid Singh for DPing and for coloring. I’m lucky to have been able to work with such talented people on this video for a song that’s so special to me.”
“We love the unique style that Stay Over took on creating this song,” says Hunter Moreno, co-founder of Make Sure Your Friends Are Okay. “It aligns so well with our mission at Make Sure Your Friends Are Okay. The openness and vulnerability he shows is what we encourage at make sure your friends are okay & we are so happy to be a part of this.
Writing music as therapy for the mental health struggles he has faced, “Happy” follows on the heels of Stay Over‘s recently-released, forward-thinking anthem “Breaking Glass” (PRESS HERE to watch the video), whose pulsating bass and hypnotic harmonies appeared on Spotify’s New Alt playlist and have organically amassed over 166k Spotify streams since the track’s release by encouraging listeners to break out of their own heads and escape negativity.
Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of influences such as Kid Cudi, Death Cab for Cutie, and even Shakespeare, Stay Over places human connection at the forefront of his art and uses it to explore deeply personal themes of love, loss, happiness, grief, and his own struggles with mental health to encourage people to connect, empower them to speak about their issues, and help them realize they aren’t so alone. Creating vast, genre-bending soundscapes by blending alt rock and post-urban trap with his distinct hip-hop sensibility and alternative energy, Stay Over is based out of Cocoon Malibu, an incubator and creative gathering place for the next-generation community of musicians, producers, directors, and visual artists and the brands that support them.