Let It Happen (song)

Background

"Let It Happen" is about "finding yourself always in this world of chaos and all this stuff going on around you and always shutting it out because you don't want to be part of it. But at some point, you realize it takes more energy to shut it out than it does to let it happen and be a part of 'it'." The theme of the album Currents is personal transition, and "Let It Happen" was sequenced as the album's opening song to exemplify acceptance.

Parker detailed the song's globetrotting development in an interview with Under the Radar in 2015:

Composition

"Let It Happen" is a psychedelic pop, disco and synthpop song. At one point, the song begins to skip, reminiscent of a skipping compact disc. Producer Kevin Parker included this as an extension of his fascination with glitches in playback. Nearing the song's conclusion, Parker begins singing wordless melodies through a keyboard sampler. He intended to write lyrics for the section, which he dubbed the "speaking in tongues version," but found that it lacked the "groove" of its original incarnation. In keeping with the song's title and subject matter, he left the gibberish in the final track.

Release and remixes

"Let It Happen" premiered on March 10, 2015 as a free digital download from the band's website. Tame Impala first shared the track on their Facebook page, writing, "NEW SONG. Track 1." It was the first song released from Currents, and was intended to kickoff a promotional cycle concluding with the release of the album and the band's Coachella appearance in May, but the record was subsequently delayed until July.

A remix of the song by electronic rock group Soulwax premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show on September 8, 2015.

Music video

The official music video for the song, lasting four minutes and seventeen seconds, was uploaded on 17 August 2015 to the group's Vevo channel on YouTube. Stereogum summed up the video, stating that the video's protagonist (Michael Instone) "blurs the line between nervous breakdown, medical crisis, and hallucination, most memorably when he finds himself strapped to an airplane seat falling through the sky." It was directed by David Wilson.

Critical reception

Upon its release, the song received critical acclaim. Pitchfork reviewer Ian Cohen awarded it the site's "Best New Track" designation, writing that the song "seems to be editing itself in real time with all manner of filters, manipulated vocals, swirling ambience, and a startling midsection where he mashes down the looper button and holds it. He's an expert at conveying the unexpected joy of beginner's luck behind the boards." Michelle Geslani of Consequence of Sound similarly praised the song's second section, commenting, "The song's second half proves especially inspiring, as it features a full-on wicked, synth-y jam session and magical vocoder harmonies."

Accolades

"Let It Happen" appeared on many critics' year-end lists of the best songs of 2015. Consequence of Sound ranked the song second-best of the year, calling it a "grand statement", "meticulously arranged", and "one of the boldest album openers of the year". The publication also said, "It's the best song [Parker's] ever written from the best album he's ever made." Pitchfork placed the song fifth on its year-end list, calling it a "highly intimate, interior experience" that "isn't so much psych rock as psyche rock—the sort of insta-jam that feels like it's being broadcast to you via telepathy rather than a stadium PA." Spin ranked the song seventh on the magazine's list of the year's best songs, calling it "the Discovery of psych-rock, eight minutes of steady vamping that coalesce into an ideal synthesis of Tame Impala’s gentle, kaleidoscopic powers and big-tent EDM’s ability to physically command." The Fader ranked the song seventh-best, calling it "a jittery, stretched-out, immaculately produced sound bath that washes over the listener, beckoning them to submerge in the madness of feeling feels". Time ranked it seventh-best as well, describing it as "mov[ing] through all the states of matter: lava-lamp keyboards give way to gaseous soundscapes, robot voices depose into fuzzy guitar riffs, and stuttering sound effects briefly make you think your speakers are having a meltdown."

Paste placed it ninth on their year-end song rankings, calling it the album's "thesis statement" and saying, "The song's multiple movements swell and bloom into the cosmic psych-rock that Tame Impala so cleverly wielded on Innerspeaker and Lonerism, but there's a new dimension added this time around". Popmatters ranked it eleventh-best of the year, calling it "both the album's overture and its thematic peak" while praising it for "hit[ting] a pinnacle for a contemporary indie pop more indebted to classic disco records than Pavement or the Pixies". Rolling Stone ranked "Let It Happen" at number 17 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015. The Village Voice named "Let It Happen" the 14th-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics' poll, Pazz & Jop. Noisey named the song the 25th-best of the year, calling it "a near eight-minute tortured wail—as defiant as it is fearful" and "a remarkable, hallucinatory exercise as comfortable in a sprawling cosmic DJ set as it is a dorm room bong sesh."

At the 2015 ARIA Music Awards, "Let It Happen" was nominated for Best Pop Release. Along with "The Less I Know the Better", the song was one of two from Tame Impala's Currents to reach the top five in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2015, coming in at #5.