“It’s not my fault, it didn’t have that Neptunes sound.” No chance of that now for Pharrell, it’s time for the 15 tracks of “In My Mind” to either make him or break him as an artist both musically and lyrically.
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Maybe it’s not such a gamble to produce your entire solo album when you’re one-half of The Neptunes given their beats have made stars out of some really retarded rappers then again Pharrell could have had an easy out if the album flopped and he had brought in a bunch of guest producers to do his shit. Pharrell is not an offensively whack MC given that he doesn’t try to portray being a hard-ass “Superthug” but no one will ever accuse him of writing a rap masterpiece. Former RR writer Jayson Young summed up the dilemma well in his 2002 review of their rap debut “In Search Of” when he said of Pharrell “If this boy was a battle MC, he would be eaten alive by absolutely any rapper you can think of.” Harsh, but true. Pharrell and his partner Chad Hugo have laced beats for many of the biggest hip-hop hit songs in the last ten years, but whenever The Neptunes tried to be the stars in the booth instead of on production the results were mixed at best. And as a rapper, he’s a boaster who, on a good day, could hang with the best of them.īut scurry any further down that YouTube nostalgia hole and “Girl” will quickly start to feel less like Pharrell’s big moment and more like a rush job to capitalize on his unexpected resurgence.“All songs produced by: Pharrell Williams for The Neptunes.” One has to admit the self-proclaimed “Skateboard P” is a “live by the sword, die by the sword” kind of guy. As a melody man, he can steer Curtis Mayfield’s falsetto into jazzy corners.
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Ten years later, he’s still a brilliant studio alchemist, making real instruments sound fake and fake instruments sound real. Alongside his production partner Chad Hugo in the Neptunes, he crafted icy rap anthems with Clipse, weird bubble-gum pop with Britney Spears, and just about every shape of pop song in between. A decade ago, Pharrell was carpet-bombing American radio with a slew of innovative, era-defining pop singles that make his recent victories feel superficial. What’s that? You’d love to watch Steve Carell, Magic Johnson and Earl Sweatshirt dance to this song, too? Then check out the viral music video that elongates “Happy” into a continuous 24-hour loop.Īnd hasn’t Pharrell spent enough time in our heads in the past year? This summer, we couldn’t escape the man cooing on Daft Punk’s neo-disco triumph “Get Lucky,” or Robin Thicke’s Marvin Gaye seance, “Blurred Lines.” Now, Pharrell’s back with his first solo album since 2006’s pretty-much-forgotten “In My Mind,” and his voice has never been more inescapable. Wearing an oversize Mountie hat (his new trademark) and a sly grin (his old trademark), he sauntered down the aisles, inviting Lupita Nyong’o and Meryl Streep to shimmy along. It’s the first single from “Girl,” a chipper new album that enjoyed an extraordinary promotional boost at Sunday’s Academy Awards, where “Happy” had earned a best original song nomination for anchoring the “Despicable Me 2” soundtrack.Īnd while Pharrell didn’t win the Oscar, he did give the telecast’s least-yucky musical performance.
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If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands - or else Pharrell Williams will come over and burn you with the feral pep of “Happy,” a pop hit surging with enough sunshine to cause melanoma.