A decade ago, Pharrell Williams had no idea what his next musical step would be. Now, the 13-time Grammy Award-winner is preparing for the release of his autobiographical film Piece by Piece. The animated Lego flick debuts in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11, featuring appearances from scores of collaborators throughout his career.
Like he has done for the Despicable Me franchise, Williams played a pivotal role in putting together the Piece by Piece soundtrack. In an Oct. 2 Instagram post, he revealed that 21 of the hit records he crafted with JAY-Z, Clipse, and Kendrick Lamar, among several others, will celebrate his music and friendships.
A look back at his discography makes it impossible to imagine what Hip Hop and pop would have looked like without his contributions, especially in the last decade. In an Oct. 6 “CBS Sunday Mornings” interview, Williams said that after finding success in the early 2000s, he found himself lost.
The Virginia Beach native explained, “I had moved away from being a student and things became formulaic, and that was troubling to my spirit.” By that time, he had already crafted hits like Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” “Hollaback Girl” with Gwen Stefani, and “Beautiful” with Snoop Dogg. Yet, Williams shared that he “could no longer feel what [he] was doing.”
And then 2013 happened. That year he released three massive Billboard Hot 100 chart successes, “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk, which peaked at No. 2, “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke, which occupied the No. 1 spot for 12 weeks, and “Happy,” which sat at No. 1 for 10 consecutive weeks. The latter two tracks have since been certified diamond by the RIAA, selling over 14 million and 13 million units, respectively.
Speaking of his creative rebirth, he went on to state, “I would have never written a song called ‘Happy.’ It was commissioned for me to do, and on top of that, I didn’t think I was gonna have anymore like hit records.” But, as it turns out, The Neptunes frontman was not responsible for making that decision, at least not from his vantage point.
“The universe was like, well, not only are you wrong about that, but I’m gonna have three different commissions come from three different places, and these are gonna be the biggest records for you,” he said. “It just humbled me because it was like, I couldn’t be pompous. I couldn’t be arrogant.”
Check out the full interview below.