G I R L
Pharrell Williams
Released by i Am OTHER
Pharrell Williams could have been successful without ever putting his voice or face on an album. As a producer, he was responsible for the music of Britney Spears, Ludacris, and if a 2003 survey is to believed, about 43 per cent of music played on U.S. radio in 2003.
Still, with his second album, G I R L, Williams gets a chance to show who he is as an artist on a personal level, and it succeeds in all the ways his debut album In My Head didn’t.
The album is full of some of the smoothest, pop-laden, funky-fresh tunes this year has gotten from any major artist. Williams knows how to do music, and he shows his chops from the opening song, “Marilyn Monroe,” with its sweeping orchestral cadence that shimmers down into a funky forward-carrying R&B rhythm.
Most of the songs carry at least a bit of that funk over, some more than others. A notable departure is the already-famous “Happy,” which has the sort of buoyancy one might expect from a Sesame Street song, but somehow manages to sound adult at the same time.
Pharrell has said in interviews that the album revolves around women, and is meant to be an ode to the women in his life and in the world. Many of the songs carry these kinds of motifs, and hide some very mature and complex feelings in infectious funky beats.
Williams even explores his identity as a non-traditional black male, and extends that to his relationships.
Not all songs are as serious though. “Gush” is a cheeky ode to the female orgasm, and perhaps one of the album’s sultriest songs.
It’s obvious that the album was meant to be a large step away from the controversy that was “Blurred Lines.”
However, the song “Hunter” does pose a problem. Though Williams has stated the song is meant to be from the perspective of a woman, lyrics like “just because it’s the middle of night/That don’t mean I won’t hunt you down” make his words hard to believe. If avoiding rape culture was an aim of the album, “Hunter” single-handedly throws those efforts into the mud, and then steps on them for good measure.
The sound of the album is absolutely divine. It was reportedly mixed by Mick Guzauski, who is also responsible for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, and it shows in every track. Every sound is as crisp as only the height of analog technology could do in the 1970s. If the sound on this album was any cleaner, it would squeak and star in a Mr. Clean commercial. As it is, it makes the whole album sound like a breath of summer air.
Pharrell’s G I R L would be one of the best albums of 2014, if it weren’t for the problems with “Hunter.” It’s 2014, and albums must be judged on their sensitivity to topics like these, doubly so if the album is supposed to be an empowering ode to women. Nonetheless, it is still one of the freshest and most enjoyable experiences so far this year.
