by Tyler Flynn
It seems like Pharrell has been EVERYWHERE this past year. He won 4 Grammys, including producer of the year, and featured on Daft Punk’s album of the year. He was also a member of the hit song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke. Pharrell has been part of the music scene for almost 15 years, working with artists such as; Snoop Dogg, Jay-z, and T.I. Pharrell has made most of his career by just acting as a featured artist in songs until 2006 when he released his first album In My Mind.
This past week, Pharrell released his newest project G I R L, a dance-pop/funk record that really pulled me in. I’ll be honest, I really only bought the album because of his work with Daft Punk, and his single “Happy” that was attached to the movie “Despicable Me 2”. But upon listening, I was very surprised at the diversity on this album.
While it is a pop album, and it has those elements, Pharrell seems to take a liking to funk music as well, and the sound definitely resonates throughout the album. With the typical funk driven bass lines, and fairly simple muted guitar chords, the album just screams 70’s funk. I feel like funk music is definitely coming back and I feel like Pharrell is going to be one of the major influencers in the bringing back of this genre.
Another element that took me by surprise about this album is how diverse all of the songs are. While they all have similar pop and funk elements, he did a great job of making the album unique, allowing the listener to feel like they’re not listening to the same song over and over again. The wide range of featured artists also helped give the album a unique sound.
Overall, this is probably going to be one of my favorite pop albums of the year. Yes, I can tell that already. I also feel like “Happy” is definitely going to be a front-runner in my favorite song of the year as well. That song grabs you in, and never lets you go. After listening to that song once, it will be stuck in my head for days. It’s amazing.
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