'That sarcasm became a song': Pharrell Williams says his mega-hit 'Happy' isn't as sincere and happy as you think and that he'll never stop loving former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo

Pharrell Williams and Morgan Neville on making it one piece at a time | Apple Music – YouTube

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At first glance, 2013 was one of the biggest years of Pharrell Williams' career. He was involved in three major hits – Happy, Blurred Lines (with Robin Thicke) and Get Lucky (with Daft Punk) – and seemed to be at the top of his game.

However, after he and Chad Hugo were hailed as super producers when they broke through as The Neptunes, but “overcompensated with cockiness and arrogance,” Williams says this was the moment he had his big moment of creative self-doubt experienced.

Speaking to Apple Music's Zane Lowe, who is promoting his new Lego biopic Piece by Piece, Williams says that despite their huge success, the fact that the three songs mentioned above were all written for a short script proved troubling.

“I was like, OK, these were all songs that were more commissioned than they were. “I woke up one day and decided I was going to write about X, Y and Z,” says Pharrell.

“So if it's an assignment, then with God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, it's something like: Well, did you do that? Was that your idea? You rose to the challenge three times, but you didn’t wake up one morning and decide you were going to make a song about a feeling.”

In fact, Williams says he hit something of a brick wall before writing “Happy” for the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack.

“There were nine songs that you were supposed to like, you know, to really fulfill this brief for this movie, and you kept hearing, 'No, no, no, no, no, no.'” And then it came, when you ran out of ideas and asked yourself a rhetorical question and came back with a sarcastic answer. And that’s exactly what Happy was.”

That question, says Pharrell, was, “How do you make a song about a person who's so happy that nothing can bring them down?” And I answered sarcastically and put it to music, and that sarcasm became the song.”

Pharrell Williams – Happy (Video) – YouTube

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However, listeners didn't notice this sarcasm – or if they did, they didn't care – and found “Happy” to be a loud ode to joy.

“And that broke me,” admits Williams, “that everything I had imagined didn't work.” And I had to learn that the universe we're in is a part of everything we do.”

Luckily, Williams wasn't completely broken and suspects he let it work in his favor after that moment of clarity.

“It's so crazy that we as individuals think that everything comes from us,” he now believes. “Our ideas, everything you get, comes from a library of existence. Nothing is new under the sun.

“In fact, the sun you look up to every day is one of trillions and millions of other stars. Nothing is new. Once you realize the insignificance of yourself, you understand what your real meaning is.”

Smart, Rubin-esque words, but as previously reported, Williams' life today is not without its tensions, as he is currently embroiled in a legal battle with his former friend and colleague Chad Hugo over ownership of the Neptunes name.

But here too, Williams is confident and reiterates that he only wishes his former producing partner the best.

“I will always love Chad and always be grateful for the time we spent making music together,” he says. “Always. Nothing will change that, and I will always wish him the very best. Nothing will change that. There is nothing he or anyone else can do to ever make me feel any different about what we are together have done and what I want for him. Nothing.”

'That sarcasm became a song': Pharrell Williams says his mega-hit 'Happy' isn't as sincere and happy as you think and that he'll never stop loving former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo

ByVanessa

By Vanessa

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