How Success & Loss Fueled Phantogram's 'Ceremony'
On Phantogram’s pulsating recent single “Into Happiness” from fourth album Ceremony, frontwoman Sarah Barthel can be heard crooning a melancholy, yet hopeful, chorus: “Fall into happiness / Wish you could be here / No more loneliness /You'd make it perfect.”At a cursory listen, the song (currently heard in a plum spot for Apple TV+) could be considered just another simple ode to a long lost love. But with the knowledge that Barthel’s sister Becky lost her life to suicide in January 2016 after struggling with depression, those lyrics take on a deeper meaning.“It definitely is a reflection,” says Barthel of the inspiration for the track’s subject matter.