12/1/2022 0 Comments Pharrell in my mind reviewI half expected to see Nile Rodgers in the credits also but he’s nowhere to be found. Yet it totally sounds like a track that could have been on last year’s Random Access Memories if they had stuck with only Pharrell on vocals. This is the return-favor collaboration with Daft Punk. “Gust of Wind” drifts in next like a warm summer breeze. This time around it’s a bit less confrontational than “Blurred Lines”. The difference is this one has a clangy guitar riff. It has quite a bit in common with last year’s “Blurred Lines”, the Robin Thicke mega-smash that should have been labeled “Pharrell featuring Robin Thicke” in my opinion. And like much of her recent songs, if you ignore the flash and glitz, she fits this one quite well. The second half kicks off with what I estimate to be his big summer hit, “Come Get It Bae”. The neo-soul bliss of this one slipped under the door and caught me off guard. And strings by Hans Zimmer! Rounding out the first half is the unexpected smash “Happy” that’s from last year’s Despicable Me 2, despite it only recently catching on. It manages to be graphic and yet charming at the same time. “Gush” follows, being the nastiest song on the album without ever swearing. It’s just enough different to maybe push the top 40 down a different path. Summer jam? I’d love to hear this one on the radio. Pharrell delivers his famous falsetto that only he can do, in a sexed up ode to the chase and pursuit. “Hunter” is the one that kind of smacked my ears right from the first listen. Word has it this album is intended to be a concept album about a planet run by 75% women. Another upbeat and positive ode to the women Pharrell appreciates so much. This one has feel-good plastered all over it. The horns remind me of those bright happy early 80s songs like Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”, with a horn section by none other than the Dap-Kings (Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse, or anyone on the Dap-Tone label). “Brand New” conga-lines its way in next with intro beatboxing by Timbaland and guest vocals by Justin Timberlake that intertwine without overpowering. Even Kelly Osbourne adds some guest vocals here somewhere in the mix. If you’re familiar with his work with/as N.E.R.D., than this will sound like the next logical step after Nothing‘s “Hot-N-Fun”. But it starts off in grand gesture with a big orchestra like you’re about to watch Pharrell: The Movie. The first song, “Marilyn Monroe”, is his tribute to… you guessed it. But he takes you on a trip through the many styles he has become famous for, and you probably didn’t even know it. Pharrell makes sure these songs are his own here. However this isn’t like Timbaland’s Shock Value albums, where each track is a different artist produced by Timbaland. Since Pharrell has produced… well… nearly everybody in the pop world, he could cash in on a lot of owed favors. This time around though, he polishes and refines the things that made us love him on other people’s tracks into something of his own. His last album, In My Mind from 2006 suffered greatly because Pharrell had a habit of giving other artists his best work, leaving not as much for himself. With his second official album, G I R L (yes, it’s spaced that way), Pharrell delivers on the promise that all of his production work over the past decade-plus has been building up to. Last year Pharrell was part of two of the summer’s biggest hits, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”. Pharrell Williams has finally delivered *that* album.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |