Pharrel Williams is the new Will i Am- ironically, there’s no love lost between the two- and, like the Scarlet Pimpernel, they seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him everywhere as his name on a track is a guarantee that it becomes a hit, something which the hugely overrated Robin Thicke should get on his knees and acknowledge for the success of “his” massive hit, “Blurred Lines”.
Wait: He should first thank Marvin Gaye and HIS Gotta Give It Up for “his” track.
What’s Pharrell Williams got going for himself?
Well, unlike will I am who I thought and still think to be only a few feet ahead of the Filipino guy in Black Eye Peas who does nothing, Pharrell Williams is genuinely talented and extremely business savvy as seen by how he has created a brand for himself and his line of clothing- the Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream sneakers- his side production team called N.E.R.D with childhood friend Chad Hugo plus his success as a Producer, Singer- okay in a kinda awkwardly sexy and appealing way- songwriter- “Justified” from Justin Timberlake were all originals he wrote for Michael Jackson whose enablers didn’t think were good enough for their golden goose- and one of THE sexiest performers I have ever seen in concert.
N.E.R.D’s She Wants To Move should never EVER be performed onstage by any other male performer.
Yeah, Manlove is alive and well.
At 41, Pharrell Williams has worked with songwriter, producer, singer and “brand” with Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Blackstreet, Kanye, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, oui, Daft Punk, French artist Uffie, Shakira, the Thicke man, great film Composer Hans Zimmer, Busta Rhymes, Future, Miley Cyrus, Mike, Damon Albarn- not mentioned is a rare Neptunes’ Remix of Sympathy For The Devil which, personally speaking was absolute crap- and others, which show a musician that, like music itself, is not shackled by boundaries.
Sure, some of his recordings and collaborations have completely missed the mark, but the pros outweigh the cons as, being a gun for hire and paid extremely well to save the careers of many means doing the best one can with some losing propositions.
Then again, as Jeff Bezos, Chairman and CEO of Amazon, says, “If you want to invent and want to innovate, failure is part and parcel with that.” If you follow @Pharrell or his @I_am_ Other on twitter, it’s a credo he lives by- and should all of us in the creative field and often having to suffer fools gladly- but badly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v891CAzbsU8
Inspired by, I think, Earth, Wind and Fire, Nile Rogers and even Sergio Mendes, the guy has his own distinct style- a lazy, laid-back almost tuneless vocal style yet, being a drummer, also rhythmic- and it’s that word again- sexy- sexy as hell and heard to great effect on N.E.R.D’s addictive Everyone Knows( All The Girls Standing In Line By The Bathroom- supposedly inspired by a night out at dragon-i and those well-known achoo achoo girls marching to the beat of Bolivian drummers in their heads.
What do I admire about Pharrell Williams?
His entrepreneurship and which something I saw first-hand when meeting N.E.R.D. in Tokyo before a gig.
Even then he was into fashion and hats- long before his Smokie The Bear ‘look’ unveiled at the Grammy Awards- and had launched his BBC brand and was partners with the Japanese founder of the Bathing Ape brand.
He might not be the greatest singer in the world and not a musician as brilliant as Prince.
What Pharrell Williams is that he’s savvy enough to know his strengths and weaknesses, he makes the best of what he has, keeps evolving and has hit that right balance of making music, being paid for it and then taking this as great promotion to build the Pharrell brand which attracts investors and partners to create and produce new projects that take “making music” to new levels of creativity.
It must be one helluva great way to live one’s life.
Comments