It was released as a digital download on 2 March 2019, as the first promotional single from Ezra's second studio album Staying at Tamara's.

In a review for NME, Nick Reilly said, "Opener 'Happy Smiling [sic] People' sees Ezra anchoring an infectious chorus around dark and world-weary lyrics: "What a terrible time to be alive if you're prone to overthinking", he croons, before offering a message of upbeat and hearty resilience ("Hey pretty smiling people, we're alright together").

Similarly to his audition, the children are not impressed with Ezra's efforts and one child begins to help him adjust his smile.

The scene then returns to the presentation, this time about Ezra's image with a bar chart with the labels "catchiness" and "edginess".

The bars begin to increase and decrease melodically and the word "EDGINESS" appears on the presentation screen.