An incredible album. Also be sure to check out my new piece on N.E.R.D., which will be in the new issue of Pound magazine, but you can check out in full here. An excerpt:
While the trio says that the first two albums, In Search Of… and Fly or Die, were experimental and “without a real, true purpose,” every aspect of this third album has been meticulously calculated to a scientific degree.
“There was a thing – it’s pretty controversial – but I was reading how when Hitler spoke, one of the things that made him compelling and super charming to these people is that when he wasn’t speaking, he kept a high-frequency noise going on,” says Pharrell. “[When he'd turn it off and speak], they were totally at ease. It really felt like he brought them peace. I did the opposite; I did things that, frequency-wise, would get you tuned up and make you feel like it’s more energetic than what it is.”
And, on his new blog, the Audacity of Dope, the homie DJ Hyphen explains the story behind “Yeah You,” a song based on a stalker that Pharrell has:
Apparently P met a super wealthy Japanese girl who went to college in Boston backstage at one of his shows. She had a rep for being crazy (”Niiiiiigo told me don’t do it”), but he figured she could be that night’s jumpoff. Little did he know that she was completely psycho, and afterwards, she ended up calling/emailing/texting him literally a hundred times a day…for months. The assistant stepped in, thinking she could handle the situation (”my friend asked me for your email address, she said she’d take it from here”), but the girl just moved on and is now stalking her. As of a month ago, they were still getting annoyed by the girl. I’m not sure writing “Yeah You” about her will help though, but at least it makes for an interesting story. Just like in the song, she’ll just hit pause and give him a call.
Peep the blog for bonus tracks, too.
