Pharrell Williams is working on new music for his iconic side project N.E.R.D. The group hasn’t released music since 2017, so this is welcome news for longtime fans of Pharrell. It should be the same for newer fans as well.
The younger generation may know Pharrell best for his hit song “Happy” from the Despicable Me franchise, but he is so much more than just some guy on a children’s movie soundtrack. He’s the man behind several iconic pop, rap, and R&B hits of the 21st century. He even worked with Maggie Rogers before she became an indie rock sensation.
If you don’t already know, N.E.R.D. was a group consisting of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and Shae Haley. Pharrell and Chad also worked together as the Neptunes.
Pharrell Williams and His New Book
The news on N.E.R.D. comes from Pharrell Willaims’ new book, Carbon, Pressure & Time: A Book of Jewels, in an extract published by GQ. Pharrell informs rapper Tyler, the Creator that, “I just ended up doin’ twelve NERD records.”
He continues, “They’re big choruses, but you know, out of nowhere, I’ll just come out of nowhere with the three-bar, crazy-nuts chords that go three-bar to four-bar to eight-bar. It’s good bro, it’s good… This is like that feeling that I felt when we made In Search Of… I won’t sit here and tell you that they were hits. I knew it was different, and I knew there won’t be nothing out there like this,” Pharrell explains. “But I’m talking about the feeling. I wanted to do everything, I wanted feelings. I wanted the motherf—ing great composition.”
The singer and producer adds, “I wanted great chords. I want to use chords I never used before, and not just the dreamy ones. The ones that I’ve never done, that I f—ing hated. But using them in ways to get to other chords where the changes are such a release. And then, lyrically, the harmonies here … all the songs just have rainbow harmonies.”
