And while the world is a better place for containing a fresh new wedding soundtrack and not “In My Mind 2,” “Best Friend” presents a glimpse of an alternate reality, of what Pharrell the MC could have become if he had been less focused on the spoils of fame and more adept at showcasing the backstory of his brilliant career. “In My Mind” as a whole has not endured since its release, and Pharrell recently admitted to Pitchfork that he had zero plans to follow it up until last year, when Columbia Records offered him a record deal. “Best Friend” is not a great song in the way that “Happy,” and roughly half of “G I R L’s” track list, are great songs. The sentiment is definitely cloying, but it’s not hollow. Years before he was declaring how happy he was, Pharrell was trying to teach others how to find happiness. Even when “Best Friend” leaves autobiography and stumbles into the self-help section, one can sense and appreciate Pharrell’s act of digging deep into himself to say something that can help his listeners. The second verse is more generalized, and messier, than the opening, likely because he is a bystander in this scenario and can only speak to how he “escaped ’cause I chased what made me passionate.” And the final verse tries to synthesize that struggle-to-success message with some imperative phrases - “Hold yourself responsible,” “Reassess your thinking,” “First picture your goal, and repeat ‘It’ll be mine,'” “Don’t wait for fame” - serving as vague mantras. “The place we love the most, the hood was built to smash us flat,” Pharrell raps, adding a pointed exhalation for emphasis. The rest of the song continues Pharrell’s attempts at becoming a storyteller, next focusing on teenage drug-dealing and gang violence. New Pop Shop Podcast: ScHoolboy Q, Pharrell & An Interview with MKTO It’s a moment where Pharrell explores his pain to gain strength - he has to, argues the chorus, punctuated by shouts of “Let it out P! Let it out P!” As the first winds down, Pharrell equates meeting Chad Hugo, his Neptunes partner, with earning new life as he faces his grandmother’s death. “Look, ooh you see me, ma/They wish they could be me, ma/As I got better, her body was eaten by leukemia,” goes Pharrell, shaving off any arrogance with a slicing last line about his grandmother Loucelle. “My best friend say I’m bottled up, I need a fucking therapist,” Pharrell spits in the first line of the first verse, delivering the words in the klutzy cadence that plagues much of “In My Mind.” “But I can’t think of nobody I wanna share this with.” That curious opening leads into a series of striking images once Pharrell quickly convinces himself to open up, however: over a twitching production that presents itself as a sinister version of the Neptunes’ “Signs” beat for Snoop, he raps about being “full of doubt and defeat” at 10 years old, learning basic math when his grandmother helped him with his homework, pounding his hands on couches and being told to channel that energy into playing drums. And because of that, one can’t simply throw “In My Mind” away. And as ill-conceived as “In My Mind” was, one song, the non-single album track “Best Friend,” explores the man who has created some of the past decade-and-a-half’s strongest mainstream music. He sings about being happy, about his wife being his “lucky star,” about feeling brand new, about “hot sex and gold, shiny things.” It’s a rhythmic, disco-influenced dance album, and a highly pleasurable listen that takes its cues from the airiness of “Happy,” a giddy song that could rule the Hot 100 for many weeks.īy design, “G I R L” does not unlock any secrets of Pharrell, the person. Pharrell sings in a light falsetto throughout the project, and sounds much more comfortable doing so. “G I R L,” released earlier this week, months after “Blurred Lines” and “Get Lucky” revitalized the Pharrell brand and days after “Happy” became the first solo Hot 100 chart-topper of his career, is not a rap album. Pharrell Covers Billboard | ‘G I R L’ Review I was so under the wrong impression at that time.” What was good about that? What’d you get out of it? There was no purpose. “I wrote those songs out of ego,” says Williams of the 15-song “In My Mind.” “Talking about the money I was making and the by-products of living that lifestyle. In a new interview with GQ about his second studio album, the 40-year-old more or less dismisses the content of his first studio album. Eight years removed from the project, the man himself admits that these critics were correct. After years of assisting the biggest rappers and pop stars in the world with hooks and beats, many noted that Williams had struggled to fill out a full-length with ideas what seemed so effortless for Pharrell as a guest star sounded so forced when he became a main attraction. The critical response to “In My Mind” - a flashy, weightless foray into hip-hop - was much more severe, though.
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