Happiness is just a smile away

Malou Berg releases third single of 2025, ”Happiness is Just a Smile Away”

Malou Berg’s multi-talent has many creative forms. Gospel records, singing, compositions, choral arrange- ments, the Pleiadean Suite (which has resulted in a triple CD box), music salons in her own home in Östhammar in Sweden, concerts abroad, and a newly written book that is currently looking for an interested publisher. Inspiration never seems to run out, and often the songs come to her when she least expects it.
A good example of the latter is “Happiness Is Just A Smile Away”, which will be released on June 20 (Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden). It’s the third standalone song Malou has released in 2025, and there’s more to come.
All the songs have had to wait a long time to be released.
”At some point, I told some colleagues of mine that I had a number of old songs that I still liked a lot, but that had been done outside my larger projects. Songs that my musical collaborator, Lasse Nilsson, and I had been playing with and which were almost finished, but had never been officially released. ”Release them – now! Don’t sit and hold on to them” one of my colleagues said. And I realized he was right: you can release songs whenever you want, they don’t have to be “single material” or even part of a larger context. In these cases, Malou chose to release them around holidays, or dates that were important to her.
“Du är en värld att leva i” (lyrics: Mikael Wiehe) is a folk music-inspired song that ABBA’s Benny Andersson would likely have been proud to have composed. It was released on Valentine’s Day, February 14. The gentle ballad, “Minnen” (lyrics: Susanne Wigforss), was released on the birthday of Malou’s late friend and soulmate Roffes Claeson and celebrates cherishing the memory of what is left, rather than mourning what is lost. “Happiness Is Just A Smile Away” (also with lyrics by Wigforss) will be released on Midsummer’s Eve.
The three songs will also be released together on a three-track single for local radio stations. A full-length album will follow, once a number of other songs have been released.
“Happiness …” has an airy production, consisting of strings, cello, male choir, female voices and, at the center of the soundscape, Malou’s sensual, life-affirming and almost girlish lead vocals. An approach that fits the lightness of the song like a glove.
”It could just as easily have been done in a jazzy, New Orleans style, but Lasse Danielsson played the cello, which gave the song a different character. We only did one take with cello and vocals. Just straight in. Lasse Nilsson, his brother-in-law Johan Ivarsson – who is a very good choir singer – and the fantastic keyboard player, Thomas Hellsten, added the male voices at a later sta- ge. However, they couldn’t reach the highest notes, so we had to change my arrangement and add some female voices. After that, Lasse Nilsson managed to subtly blend the voices with the help of modern technology”.
Pressinfo 2025-06-12

Playfully ‘stompy’ and irresistibly swinging, the music becomes a meeting between New Orleans, gospel/spiritual feel, and a modern, Amy Winehouse-related take on Sixties soul. It all ends up sounding as effortless and natural as the song’s message.
If the music makes heads nod and mouths smile, the lyrics are infectious, a happy pill needed in times when you only have to see a newspaper headline or turn on the news on TV to be struck by all the madness that often characterizes our planet.
”I remember sitting with the chorus of ”Happiness is just a smile away”. As I often do, I asked the poet Susanne Wigforss to expand the lyrics with verses that spoke the same language”.
The idea is simple: smiles are contagious, just like laughter. ”Anyone who has tried laughter therapy can attest to that. They say that a good laugh prolongs life, but I would rather say that it improves life”, Malou muses.
She is particularly pleased that Susanne introduced the concept of “pay it forward”, which means that one good deed often leads to more of the same. The concept of the butterfly ef- fect comes to mind: even the smallest wingslaps trigger movements that can have far reaching effects on the other side of the world.
The idea is related to a movement in the US called ‘Random acts of kindness’. It involves doing something good for a stranger without expecting anything in return, other than hopeful- ly inspiring that person to help someone else.
”I was in a coffee shop earlier today, and paid for five coffee and buns and two lunches, which the owners will then donate to some of those who need it most – and they know their customers. No one will know who the money came from, it will not be directed back at me. The idea is simple: I’ll be happy, the person who passes on the good deed will be happy and hopefully the recipient will be too,” says Malou.
That concept that good creates good is nothing new, but the fact that you don’t even know who is behind the good deed can help create a feeling that life itself, the universe, wishes you well. That good things can happen when you least expect it, but need it the most. A thought that may provide enough energy and strength to face the next day.
As a whole, these three songs are much-needed. They deal with the most human of sub- jects: love, friendship, loss, empathy – and hope. In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that they almost never got to meet their audience.
Now they’re here for us to hear.
Titel: Happiness Is Just A Smile Away Artist: Malou Berg
Cello: Lars Danielsson
recorded live by Lars Nilsson
at Nilento Studios, Göteborg
Music: Malou Berg Lyrics: Susanne Wigforss