Swedish House Mafia and Lykke Li meet on ‘Happiness Is So Sad’

Swedish House Mafia and Lykke Li have made a record together for the first time. ‘Happiness Is So Sad’ is out now via DANSA.

Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso cut it in Stockholm with Fred again.., who shares the production credit with PARISI. Max Martin and Oscar Holter are among the writers. The song sits on a single idea, that happiness and grief can occupy the same memory, and Lykke Li’s vocal carries it over a softer register than the trio usually work in.

It premiered with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 and has been in the group’s Sunday residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza since. Angello and Ingrosso played it at Tomorrowland last month.

Gothenburg comes next. Swedish House Mafia take Ullevi Stadium on 28 and 29 August, the two largest concerts of their career. Lykke Li’s own summer has run through Coachella and a headline night at KOKO London.