Pharrell Williams reveals his motivation behind blockbuster hit 'Happy', says he was 'out of ideas'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Pharrell Williams shared how he ended up creating one of the most successful songs ‘Happy’ in 2013.
The rapper/producer made an appearance on Zane Lowe’s show on Apple Music 1 to promote his biographical movie ‘Piece by Piece’ and talked about his famous song.
"When I was about 40, that's when 'Get Lucky,' 'Blurred Lines,' 'Happy', all of that was the same year," reflected Williams.
Pharrell Williams opens up on his popular collaborations
The 51-year-old also opined on his collaboration with Daft Punk and Robin Thicke. "And these were all songs that were more commissions than they were just like, I woke up one day and decided I'm going to write about X, Y and Z," he said, according to USA Today.
Talking more about the hit track for ‘Despicable Me 2,’ Williams questioned himself, "How do you make a song?"
"It was only until you were out of ideas and you asked yourself a rhetorical question and you came back with a sarcastic answer. And that's what 'Happy' was," he added.
"How do you make a song about a person that's so happy that nothing can bring them down? And I sarcastically answered it and put music to it, and that sarcasm became the song. And that broke me," Williams explained.
As per records, ‘Happy’ created history with 13.9 million copies being sold. It was also the most-played track on British radio in the 2010s.
Director Morgan Neville opens up on 'Piece by Piece' movie
Pharrell Williams' upcoming flick ‘Piece by Piece’ has been directed by Morgan Neville who joined the rapper during the show. "The thing that was different than say a normal documentary is normally somebody shares their story with you and then you figure out how to tell it, which I did, but then I showed it back to Pharrell and then he started writing songs based on my view of his story," he said.
The director added, "And then it became this kind of circular conversation, creatively then about the entire film."
