Pharrell Williams’ Movie, Music, and TV Career, Explained

Grammy-winning file producer and artist Pharrell Williams has been dominating the trade for many years. 

Pharrell has had his hand on dozens of legendary albums and iconic songs. Mastering the whole gamut of musical genres, Pharrell has collaborated with a number of trade legends and has generated an energizing discography jam-packed with infectious hits. Whether or not he is providing invaluable trade information as a Coach on The Voice or getting crowds “Blissful” along with his riveting performances, Pharrell stays one of the prolific producers and entertainers of our time. 

RELATED: The Voice Coaches By way of the Years: A Timeline

Learn on, under, to be taught extra about Pharrell’s rise to fame and his sprawling music profession.

Pharrell Williams’ early profession: forming the Neptunes

Born in 1973 in Virginia Seaside, Virginia, Pharrell first started performing as a member of the drum line in Princess Anne Excessive College’s band. Whereas nonetheless in highschool, Pharrell and Chad Hugo, Shay Haley, and Mike Etheridge fashioned the R&B pop group, The Neptunes, performing for his or her faculty’s expertise present. After graduating in 1991, Hugo and Pharrell started producing as a duo alongside producer and Blackstreet frontman Teddy Riley. 

Pharrell’s first notable manufacturing credit score got here in 1992 after he wrote a verse for Wreckx-n-Impact’s “Rump Shaker.” From there, The Neptunes started producing a number of now-notable singles, with Pharrell accumulating songwriting credit left and proper. By the flip of the century, The Neptunes have been producing hits for the rap duo Clipse (comprised of rappers Pusha T and Malice), Dr. Dre (1998’s “Zoom”), Mystikal (2000’s “Shake Ya -ss”), Jay-Z (2000’s “I Simply Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)”), Babyface (2001’s Face2Face album), and Usher (2002’s “U Do not Need to Name”). These mash-ups solely scratch the floor of Pharrell’s early collaborators.

Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes’ early manufacturing credit 

From there, The Neptunes continued to select up steam and work with an growing variety of music moguls. In 2001, The Neptunes produced Britney Spears’ “I am a Slave 4 U” and “Boys” for her self-titled third album. In 2002, The Neptunes produced the megahit “Sizzling in Herre” for Nelly. After producing *NSYNC’s closing single “Girlfriend,” the duo generated Justin Timberlake’s singles “Like I Love You,” “Rock Your Physique,” and “Señorita.” In 2003, Pharrell scored two Grammy awards after The Neptunes gained for Producer of the Yr and Timberlake’s Justified gained Finest Pop Vocal Album. 

After creating the file label Star Trak with Rob Walker in 2001, The Neptunes started engaged on a compilation album that includes artists throughout the label. In 2003, The Neptunes dropped the compilation album, Clones, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The next 12 months, The Neptunes produced Snoop Dogg’s praised hit, “Drop It Like It is Sizzling,” which additionally featured Pharrell.

The Neptunes’ signature staccato pop beats and energizing manufacturing outlined the early 2000s sonic panorama as Pharrell continued to work with the trade’s newest and biggest. A 2003 survey cited by The Age revealed The Neptunes have been accountable for producing 43% of the songs rocking U.S. radio waves on the time. In 2022, The Neptunes have been inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame. 

Pharrell Williams and N.E.R.D.’s studio albums

In a profession shift that established himself as a performer as a lot as a Neptunes producer, Pharrell fashioned the facet undertaking N.E.R.D. (a backronym for “No One Ever Actually Dies”) within the late Nineties. The group consists of Pharrell, his Neptunes collaborator Hugo, and Shay Haley. Inserting Pharrell in entrance of the mic as a lead vocalist made means for expanded artistic expression because the group explored avante-funk rock and bossa nova pop by means of a grunge-R&B lens. 

N.E.R.D. has launched 5 albums all through the group’s tenure and produced a strong lineup of singles for celebrated artists. In 2002, N.E.R.D. launched their first album, In Search of…, and adopted that up in 2004 with their sophomore studio album, Fly or Die. In 2008, after a label change from Virgin to Star Trak, N.E.R.D. launched their third album, Seeing Sounds. N.E.R.D.’s fourth studio album, Nothing, was launched in 2010.

In 2017, N.E.R.D. launched their fifth and most up-to-date album to this point, No One Ever Actually Dies, impressed by their namesake. The group had followers in a frenzy with the album’s lead single, “Lemon,” that includes the mythic Rihanna. The album is a testomony to Pharrell’s infinite phonebook of connections, additionally that includes collaborations with André 3000, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, M.I.A., Future, Wale, and Gucci Mane.

Pharrell Williams’ solo albums: In My Thoughts, Lady, and Phriends, Vol. 1

Pharrell made his solo studio debut in 2006 with In My Thoughts. Boasting the catchy tracks “Can I Have It Like That” (that includes Gwen Stefani), “Angel,” and “Quantity One” (that includes Kanye West), the album scored a 2007 Grammy nomination for Finest Rap Album.

Lady and Pharrell’s Supernova Hit “Blissful”

Whereas Pharrell had actually carved out a legacy inside the music trade by the 2010s by means of his high-demand manufacturing, he earned meteoric fame as a solo artist along with his 2013 hit “Blissful.” The tune was initially featured on the soundtrack of the Despicable Me sequel, making its method to Pharrell’s sophomore studio launch, Women, in 2014 as its lead single. Like its predecessor albums, Lady includes a bursting locker room of iconic voices, with options from Timberlake, JoJo, Daft Punk, and fellow Voice alums Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus. 

“Blissful” was an astronomic success, spending 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 and changing into 2014’s best-selling tune. The music video, that includes Pharrell’s mesmerizing falsetto and a neo-soul beat, was a viral obsession after being marketed as “the primary 24-hour music video.” As of Could 2024, the four-minute model of the music video has collected over 1 billion views on YouTube. Pharrell’s Lady and the explosive hit “Blissful” scored an Academy Award nomination and gained the megaproducer three 2015 Grammy Awards: Finest Music Video (“Blissful”), Finest Pop Solo Efficiency (“Blissful” Stay), and Finest City Modern Album. 

Whereas Pharrell reveals no indicators of slowing down inside his immeasurable manufacturing profession, followers are ready on his third studio album, Phriends, Vol. 1. In 2023, Pharrell launched the one “Airplane Tickets” that includes Rauw Alejandro and Swae Lee.  

RELATED: Kodi Lee’s Cowl of “Blissful” by Pharrell Williams Will Put a Smile on Your Face

Pharrell Williams many trade collaborators

Pharrell has been the curator of a number of number-one hits since his rise to fame within the late Nineties. He has songs with Gwen Stefani, Daft Punk, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus, Jay Z, Shakira, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliot, and Ariana Grande, amongst others. 

Pharrell, the movie composer

Pharrell has appeared because the voice of himself in a number of noteworthy movies and sequence. Pharrell made particular appearances in SNL alum Lonely Island’s 2016 movie Popstar: By no means Cease By no means Stopping, Black Is King (2020), North Hollywood (2020), and A Man Named Scott (2021). As for animated tasks, he appeared as himself in an episode of The Simpsons (“Strolling Large & Tall”) and was the narrator within the 2018 adaptation of The Grinch. In 2021, he offered the voice for Alfonso in Sing 2. 

Pharrell’s preternatural expertise has additionally lent superbly to a number of movie scores, most famously the Despicable Me franchise’s unique trilogy. In 2016, Pharrell served as each a producer and composer for the Oscar-nominated biopic Hidden Figures. The rating additionally earned Pharrell two nominations on the sixtieth Annual Grammy Awards.

Pharrell, the style designer and enterprise mogul

Pharrell has confirmed by means of his numerous manufacturing portfolio that he’s a person of huge concepts, which has prolonged to a vigorous profession in style, artwork, and different ventures. In 2005, Pharrell helped create the streetwear model Billionaire Boys Membership and Ice Cream footwear. In 2008, Pharrell labored with French luxurious style home Louis Vuitton to design a line of eyewear and jewellery. In 2009, Pharrell debuted a collaborative sculpture with Takashi Murakami at Artwork Basel, a chunk that spoke to the idea of worth.

Pharrell has created unique strains for an esteemed roster of style corporations, together with however not restricted to Adidas, Chanel, Moncler, Uniqlo, and Louis Vuitton. Pharrell has additionally expanded his artistic attain to skincare, launching Humanrace in 2017. In 2023, Pharrell was introduced because the males’s artistic director for Louis Vuitton, along with his first assortment debuting at Paris Males’s Trend Week in June 2023.

“I’m glad to welcome Pharrell again house after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Males’s Artistic Director,” Louis Vuitton chairman Pietro Beccari mentioned in an announcement. “His artistic imaginative and prescient past style will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton in the direction of a brand new and really thrilling chapter.”

With oodles of trade information inside his repertoire, it was no shock when Pharrell made his method to The Voice. Pharrell made his Voice debut as a Battle Advisor for Workforce Usher in Season 4, settling into his personal purple chair in Season 7.

He in the end served an astounding Voice run for 4 consecutive seasons, profitable in Season 8 along with his Workforce Pharrell singer-songwriter, Sawyer Fredericks. 

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Pharrell Williams’ new film: Piece by Piece

When Pharrell determined he needed to inform his life story in a film, he reached out to Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville with a singular thought: use Legos. Taking the surreal strategy allowed the duo to open up creatively in how they shared the musician’s background and music, combining actual interviews with Lego-fied model of collaborators like Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani with dream-like visuals. After all a Pharrell Williams film will seem like nothing else on the market.

“We needed it to be a medium for anybody that simply needed to listen to , aspirational, inspiring story advised vividly, in a means that felt prefer it might apply to them personally,” Pharrell advised Selection. “That they’d notice that at seven years outdated or 77 years outdated, they may get up tomorrow and go inform their story, piece by piece.” The article additionally famous that the Pharrell Lego will put on many outfits all through the lego film, hopefully together with the long-lasting Pharrell Williams hat.

The brand new Lego film Piece by Piece hits theaters October 11.

Pharrell Williams’ synesthesia

Visuals and music have all the time gone hand-in-hand for Pharrell, who explains within the Piece by Piece trailer that from a younger age, he noticed colours when he listened to music. Evidently the artist has synesthesia, a benign situation extra frequent amongst artists that causes the senses to overlap. Some individuals can “see” style or have particular colours related to particular phrases or numbers.

Williams has spoken about his synesthesia earlier than, emphasizing that many individuals have some model of it, and explaining the way it manifests for him. “Folks with synesthesia, we do not actually discover till somebody brings it up after which another person says, ‘Nicely, no, I do not see colours after I hear music,’ and that is if you notice one thing’s totally different,” he advised NPR in 2013. “It is the one means that I can determine what one thing seems like. I do know when one thing is in key as a result of it both matches the identical shade or it would not. Or it feels totally different and it would not really feel proper.