Pharrell Williams is taking on the spicy wings of death!
The 51-year-old musician made an appearance on Hot Ones with Sean Evans.
During the appearance, Pharrell reflected on working with legends like Timbaland and Missy Elliott, making the McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle, and much more.
Keep reading to see highlights from his episode…
On working with Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Clipse:
“It was kids having fun ’cause we didn’t know where it was going to end up and that’s the thing, like falling in love with the process. It’s not necessarily the ‘there,’ it’s the getting there, it’s the going, it’s the process, it’s the journey.”
On making McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ jingle after being fired from McDonald’s:
“I thought it was ironic and I thought it was very funny. They brought that to use and they asked us to make a song out of it. I mean I didn’t wake up one day and say I got an idea for McDonalds and say [sings jingle]. It was more like incorporating a jingle, an idea and a concept that they had, around it…It was more of them saying “can you make a song out of this?” and we were like yeah, sure.”
On his evolving relationship with luxury:
“I love to design …I’m not like a materials person in terms of like wanting those things as much. I mean I’m grateful for what I have and I’m cool. I’m not looking for too much more than just like experience and the ability to design and do partnerships. I’m enjoying that, I’m enjoying just designing and artistically iterating.”
On the art of crate digging for right sample / finding “Wait A Minute” sample for “Lemon”:
“I’m inspired by everything, when I say everything I mean like a range of different sources, not just purely records…There was a man named Arlen Specter and he was at a town hall. Somebody was really going off and he was saying ‘no wait, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute.’ And I was like oh, this is great and we chopped that up and put that in and created this song called ‘Lemon.’”
On the possibility of living on Mars in our lifetime:
“Yes, because I think that it’s possible to terraform that planet. I think the conditions aren’t too far off for them to do the work that they would need to do to make it happen.”
On music in the future:
“If you were to ask somebody 15 years ago about what music is right now, what is okay to say now, they’d be surprised. What it’s not okay to say right now, they’d be surprised. That’s just an effect of like the evolution in humanity.”
On working with artists and their process in the studio:
Daft Punk – “Being in the studio with the robots, it’s like, it’s euphoric because you’re around two absolute masters.”
Beck – “He is probably one of the most eclectic people with one of the deepest mental libraries…this guys is like a walking almanac…”
N.O.R.E.: “He is so funny. Bombastic with the energy that he wants to evoke when he’s making a song.”
Watch the episode…
