Pharrell Williams Reminisces About Working With Beyoncé and Teases: ‘Just Get Ready’
Over the past 30+ years Pharrell Williams has written and produced hits for everyone from *NSYNC (and solo smashes for Justin Timberlake) to Usher, Britney Spears, Busta Rhymes, No Doubt, Clipse, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke and many more.
But in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 51-year-old singer/rapper/producer and fashion designer who is the subject of the upcoming genre-busting LEGO biopic Piece By Piece opened up about some of the mega collaborations that got away, as well as one that he suggested he might be revisiting soon.
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When Pharrell, who has worked on a number of albums and singles with Beyoncé over the past two decades — including producing her 2002 debut solo single, “Work It Out” — was asked what it’s been like to see the singer evolve from her Destiny’s Child days to now, the response likely made the Beyhive sit up and take notice.
“So happy for her. And I’m so grateful to be a part of her story and her journey and her trajectory,” said Pharrell of the singer who broke out in yet another direction earlier this year with her chart-topping , country-leaning Cowboy Carter album, on which he co-wrote and co-produced the song “Sweet Honey Buckiin'” featuring Shaboozey. “We’ve had a lot of fun. Get ready, though. Just get ready.”
When asked what we should prepare for, Williams was coy but adamant, reiterating, twice, “Just get ready.”
Skateboard P would not elaborate on what that meant, which makes Bey’s recent comments in a GQ email interview even more intriguing. In the piece, Beyoncé explained that anymore she likes to limit public appearances — even while promoting an album — and that she is not really into all the other expectations of the publicity machine.
“I create at my own pace, on things that I hope will touch other people,” she told the publication. “I only work on what liberates me. It is fame that can at times feel like prison. So, when you don’t see me on red carpets, and when I disappear until I have art to share, that’s why.”
While that sure sounds like we might be in for a wait until her next project, Pharrell’s tantalizing tease seemed to suggest otherwise; a spokesperson for Beyoncé had not responded to Billboard‘s request for additional information on her upcoming plans at press time.
Williams also weighed in on the burning question of whether he thinks Bey this is the year she’ll finally win her long-sought album of the year Grammy for Cowboy Carter. “It better be. It better be. They know,” he said of what could be the singer’s fifth shot at the Recording Academy’s top award.
Elsewhere in the interview, Pharrell opened up about how a trio of No. 1 hits a decade ago — Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and his own “Happy” — kind of threw him for a loop. He also dove into the last time he spoke to Britney Spears, originally pitching the Clipse hit “Frontin'” to Prince, how most of music from Timberlake’s solo debut album, Justified [2002] was originally written with Michael Jackson in mind and why Sade is at the top of his want-to-work-with list.
Piece By Piece (Oct. 11), directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville features the voices of Pharrell (who wrote five new songs for the film), Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott, Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Timbaland and Busta Rhymes. Williams also just wrapped Atlantis, a movie musical based on his childhood growing up in Virginia Beach’s Atlantis Apartments that features Elliott, Halle Bailey, Quinta Brunson, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry, Janelle Monaé, Anderson .Paak and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
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