Artist,
Musician and Grammy Award winning Pharrell Williams joined forces again with
composer Heitor Pereira to produce the soundtrack for Despicable Me 2. Williams
wrote “Happy” and “Just a Cloud Away”.
During
a recent press day, Williams spoke to collider about the film, influences in tv
and film and The Neptunes.
“Question:
The music in this was great and it complimented and worked so well with the
movie. Can you talk a little bit about your process of writing? In
particular, I loved the song Happy. How did that come
about and what inspired you to write it?
Pharrell
Williams: The process is usually the same. They usually do one of
two things. They tell you, “Oh, well you know what? We’ve just
written this new scene and we need X, Y and Z.” There’s your
criteria. You have directives. Or sometimes they’ll already have
temp music where the tempo works and the feeling of the song works, but the
song is just overplayed. Or a lot of it is right, but they want something
new and fresh. And so, there’s a criteria, and then there is your motive
and inspiration. Ingeniously, the writers and the director chose a
different overarching theme for this one which was in a much happier
place. I feel like they were smart. They predicted that this is
where the world will be right now at this moment. The internet has been
responsible for so much connectivity with us as a species, humanity, but at the
same time, with all of the connectivity, there are a lot of great things you
see and then there’s a lot of shock. People are becoming desensitized at
this point. One day, there’s a train off the track. Next week,
there’s another train off the track. It’s weird all these things.
But again, you’re dealing with math. You’re dealing with seven billion
people, so things are bound to go wrong. But what about the happier side
of things? People have become so desensitized to all the tragedies and
travesties, that as a species, we needed to go to a lighter place. These
guys ingeniously predicted that that’s where this would go, and they used Gru,
the guy who was least likely, if you look in your yearbooks, to ever be happy
about something. They chose him to be the main guy with a good mood and
attitude. I was so happy, pun intended, to express that for him.
It’s been really cool because you wouldn’t think that that would work, but it
did. Those guys are super-genius, and I was so lucky to be a sticker on
that rocket ship.
…
Who’s
your favorite character? Who do you like in the movie the best?
Williams: I
like Gru’s humor. I love that dry humor. The funniest things that
he says are under his breath. I just think that’s so genius and so
relatable.
How
much of your past influences your music and how much of it will influence your
future endeavors?
Williams: You
learn from experiences, and I suppose that’s where I color most of my music,
from experiences. Part of it is reaching into oblivion for things that
don’t exist, like what the writers did when they were creating the story for Despicable Me, like what is a Minion and what does it look like? They were
reaching into oblivion. Most of my work is colored by experiences.
When
do you think you’re going to put out your next solo album?
Williams: I’ve
been concentrating on Despicable Me and all of the other production. I’ve just been concentrating on
this.
…
How
do you decide what you want to do, what’s right for you, and why is Despicable Me something
you chose to do?
Williams: I
mainly go with a feeling of if it sounds right, but then I have a super
incredible, comprehensive team that sometimes sees things before I do, and they’re
like, “No, you’re bugging. You need to do this.” But this was not
something that they needed to twist my arm to do. It’s animation.
As a child growing up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I was always obsessed with
cartoons. When my aunt used to watch me, it was like a real serious tug
of war. She wanted to watch General Hospital. I wanted to watch The Flintstones. It was a real thing. So now, being a grown-up and being
able to afford my own television and my own satellite service, Boomerang is on all the time. As far as working with these guys, like I said,
it’s animation. Who turns down that job? It’s not afforded and
offered to many people. I know that I’m blessed. I know that I’m
super fortunate. What I try to do is repay it with diligence, research,
and going super hard, and just trying to find things that are so sticky, but
that feel good, because there is a stickiness that pisses you off, too.
Like those songs that are annoying and you can’t get them out, but they’re
sticky. I try not to bore you guys with the wrong kind of glue.
As
a kid or at any point in your artistic career, were there meldings of animation
and music that really impressed you and made you say, “That’s what I’m aspiring
to.”?
Williams:
What’s that guy’s name? Carl Stalling?
Looney
Tunes?
Williams:
Yeah. He’s the king to me. That’s partially the soundtrack to my
life as a child. And then, there is Randy Newman, the guy that takes
every Oscar for Best Original Song in animation. He must have a vitrine
and just lines them up like cars. He’s genius god. He really is.
…
How
was it being parodied on Jimmy Kimmel Live in
that hilarious “Blurred Lines” music video with Robin Thicke? Did you
enjoy hitting Kimmel over the head with that chair?
Williams: I was
horrified. And they only had one chair to get it right. It was
like, “One shot, kid!” And the camera is rolling. It’s Jimmy
Kimmel. I’m swinging a chair. It was weird because I did it, and I
was so timid about doing it that I didn’t want to make a mean face after I’d
done it. You needed to make a mean face like you meant it. I was
uncomfortable.
…”
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