Pharrell - Girl ALBUM REVIEW

Being a master producer is one thing. It takes tremendous talent to put together an array of sounds and instruments to make these tunes (especially nowadays). But when you're a talented artist along with that, "being talented" doesn't begin to describe it. Though there are plenty of hybrid producer/artists in music today, not many of them can or will match the talent and longevity that Pharrell Williams has. For a long time he and his partner Chad Hugo made up The Neptunes. One of hip hop's most prolific production teams. Responsible for and long, endless number of classic hit records spanning well over a decade. Today, Pharrell is kinda doing his solo thing. I'm sure him and Chad are still cool but it's kinda went from "produced by The Neptunes" to "produced by Pharrell". Just saying. Anyway, it's been almost eight years since Pharrell dropped his debut album In My Mind. Quite a drought. But of course he didn't go no where. He kept on producing hits and doing some good collabos. However it's obvious that he's long over due for a sophomore album and he has finally delivered Girl. The much long awaited follow up. I had no real expectations for this project. Only thing I could say I kinda expected was a mixture of genres and what not. Well overall, I thought the album was pretty cool. There wasn't much genre blending as I thought it would be. The album is pretty much all R&B (I expected him to do a little rapping too but he didn't). However, to no surprise, there is some experimenting with the production. A lot of pop, techno, funk, disco and flash dance type of beats. But it's the 70's soul sound that dominates majority of this project. Think vintage Motown. Actually, sound wise it kinda reminds me a bit of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines album from last year. Which kinda isn't a surprise seeing as how last years hits "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk both had sounds like that. Two tracks Pharrell was apart of. Also, as you can tell from the album title and cover, 95% of this album is geared towards the women. Lots of very flirtatious and sexual (non explicit) and just overall celebratory songs praising women. I'm sure a lot of women will enjoy that. This will probably one of my more shorter reviews because it's a short album so let's get right into my positives. No song on here lived up to the disco/funk sound more than "Hunter". I mean this song is a straight up blast from the past. Get your bell bottoms and disco ball for this one. It's a cool track. Of course, everybody loves the first single "Happy". The song, which is also the lead song from last years animated film Despicable Me 2, has a fun, clap heavy, energetic get-up-and-dance vibe that makes you feel just like the songs title. It's a major stand out because it's one of very few tracks on here that's not about women. I like the song now but after the radio wares it out I'll probably be sick of it. I like the sound on "Lost Queen". It had these African drums with tribal vocals in the background. A song honoring a woman as a queen and treating her as such. The first two tracks had cool uptempo dance beats that sets the mood of the album perfectly. The intro track "Marilyn Monroe" with it's many violins, and the Justin Timberlake assisted "Brand New" which had somewhat of a salsa feel to it. "It Girl" was the only song that sounded the closest to hip hop as far as production. He must have loved this beat himself because he let the beat drag out for over two and a half minutes at the end. I didn't mind it though because it was a cool beat. "Know Who You Are" in my opinion was good only because Alicia Keys voice blended so well with this tune. Even more so than Pharrell. She may have out did him on his own song. Good song nonetheless. My only two issues with this is first, the track "Gush". I'll try to be clean describing this but it's basically him talking about the joy of a woman's orgasm. Now if this was a rap song it would be off the wall explicit but somehow Pharrell was able to talk about it and made it seem not-so nasty. It just felt kinda awkward hearing it considering the vibe of the rest of this album. The second issue is the lack of a hip hop presence. I understand this is basically a pop/R&B album and it has a concept but majority of Pharrell's biggest hits that he produced were hip hop and I did expect a little bit of that. I think it would have fit. But oh well, it's not that big of a deal. Overall, this was fun, feel good album that everyone for the most part should enjoy. Everyone from kids to the seniors will groove to this. It's audacious, it's energetic and so full of spirit. I give it a final grade of a B+. Pharrell Williams continues to re-invent himself with each passing year. As an producer and as an artist. He will go down as one of my personal top ten producers all time and that won't change. The older he gets (even though he doesn't look like he's getting older), the better he gets at what he does. Which is making music that makes everyone feel...happy. End.

Final Grade: B+

CREDITS

Executive Producer

Pharrell Williams

Lead Artist
Pharrell Williams

Production

Pharrell Williams

Collaboration

Justin Timberlake

Alicia Cook

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Thomas Bangalter

Label

I Am Other/Columbia Records