A funk and soul effort with often humorous sexual lyrics, it was co-written and co-produced by Murphy with several high-profile contemporary musicians, such as Nile Rodgers and Larry Blackmon,[1] at various recording studios in California, New York, Florida, and the Bahamas.

[1] Reviewing So Happy in August 1989, Chicago Tribune journalist Chris Heim viewed it as an improvement over Murphy's first album, saying that the comedian "seems more comfortable in the role of vocalist this time".

[1] Similarly, The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau observed a greater seriousness in Murphy's "wheedling croon" that is ideal for the album's cartoonish style of funk and "wicked Prince rip".

He applauded the sexual conceit of "Put Your Mouth on Me" and the compelling musical qualities in "Bubble Hill" and the title track, but found rest of the album derivative and Murphy merely "better than your average shower singer".

[6] In Mark Coleman and J. D. Considine's entry on Murphy in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992), the comedian is criticized for not only lacking "the equipment to carry off his soul-star ambitions", but seeming "genuinely uncomfortable trying to deliver any but the most basic emotions" and resorting to an emphasis on "musical jokes" that "wears thin throughout So Happy".