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Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (born April 5, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and producer. He has produced, co-produced, and remixed many songs and albums for various artists, including (but definitely not limited to) Maroon 5, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, and Snoop Dogg.

In addition to his production work, he is also the lead singer of the Funk Rock band N*E*R*D, and one half of the production duo The Neptunes (consisting of him and Chad Hugo). He has also served as composer for a number of films.


Discography:

With N*E*R*D

Solo

  • In My Mind (2006)
  • G I R L (2014)

Filmography:

Films scored:

Himself


Because I'm tropin':

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    Tropes about N*E*R*D 
  • Aerith and Bob: Chad is a common name, Pharrell is a less common name, and Shay is somewhere in the middle
  • Childhood Friends: Pharrell and Chad met at a camp for musically gifted and talented children when they were 12, and met Shay at school.
  • Corrupt Politician: Pharrell compares them to strippers in "Lapdance", in the way how they make a lot of big promises like a stripper offering a free lapdance, but cannot and will not live up to them.
  • Darkest Hour: Sooner or later, it all comes crashing down...
  • Fun with Acronyms: N*E*R*D stands for "No One Ever Really Dies".
  • Genre Mashup: His work with N*E*R*D is a highly eclectic mix of Funk Rock with Electronic Music, hip hop and R&B.
  • Good Bad Girl: "She Wants To Move" is an ode to this trope. Sadly, the girl she's talking about is stuck with a boyfriend who won't let her be.
  • Justified Criminal: "Provider", hoo boy. The song is sung from the point of view of a teenager who was spurned by a friend of his to get into the drug business due to his extremely poor economic state. He got kicked out of school by trying out some cocaine, and is now a drug dealer who works every night to give some money to his girlfriend. He fully comprehends that what he's doing is destructive, though, and wishes he could stop selling drugs and become a normal person with a loving family.
  • Mood Whiplash: Their discography is chock-full of this:
    • On In Search Of…:
      • The synth-laden Girl on Girl Is Hot-themed tune “Tape You” is followed by “Run To The Sun”, a ballad about death (that many confuse for a love song) that Pharrell wrote for his dying grandmother.
      • “Am I High” ends with a fade out of the instrumental, which includes a soft, graceful piano playing. This can make Pharrell’s shout of “FUCKING POSERS” at the beginning of the next song, “Rock Star”, just a little jarring to some.
    • On Fly Or Die:
      • The opening track, “Don’t Worry About It” is a smooth funk-sounding song that has Pharrell crooning like James Brown. It’s followed by the album’s title track, which is a fast-paced song about teenage angst and suicide.
    • On Seeing Sounds:
      • The album’s intro, which has Pharrell monologuing about his childhood in Virginia Beach over a Pixar-sounding instrumental, is attached to “Time For Some Action”, which is somewhat aggressive and fairly sexual in comparison.
      • In a similar vein, “Kill Joy”, a rather fast-paced and aggressive-sounding song about the fakeness of people in popular crowds, is followed by “Love Bomb”, a grand and orchestral song about spreading love and peace instead of war and hatred.
    • On Nothing:
      • “Help Me”, which is fairly angry and desperate-sounding, is followed by “Victory”, which is very innocent-sounding and hopeful.
      • “Life As A Fish” is built on this trope. To symbolize the contrast between the serenity of life under the sea and the chaos and destruction caused by humans, the song alternates between being ethereal and lulling to loud and discordant.
    • On NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES:
      • Pharrell’s verses on “1000” have him singing about what could happen if all Americans came together to create change. Meanwhile, guest rapper Future uses his verse to show off his wealth, listing purchases that “cost thousands”. Unsurprisingly, many fans consider Future’s verse to be out of place with the rest of the song.
      • “Secret Life Of Tigers”, a harsh, pulsating dance track about rebelling against conservative parents (which many have also interpreted as being about the LGBTQ community) is followed by “Lifting You”, a slow reggae-inspired track that features Ed Sheeran and has Pharrell singing in a questionable Caribbean accent.
  • A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: "Truth or Dare". The original version of the song starts with Pharrell screaming "ORGY!!!" just to hammer the point home.
  • Police Brutality: One of the main themes of NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES, particularly in "Don't Don't Do It!" - one of the song's verses lists places where recent and controversial events of such trope happened.
  • Pretender Diss: "Rock Star" calls out everyone who keeps saying they're gonna make the big time, only to chicken out when the limelight is on them.
    Tropes about The Neptunes 
  • Berserk Button: While they definitely don’t go “berserk” by any definition, both get annoyed whenever someone brings up their different races and focus on their differences rather than their similarities.
    • The same can be said with Pharrell whenever someone refers to his synesthesia as a “medical condition”.
  • Bowdlerise: The Youtube remaster of “Frontin’” felt that the line “tear your ass up” was inappropriate, so they decided to censor it. This would make sense if they hadn’t decided that the word they need to mute was “tear”, which actually just makes the line sound dirtier.
    Tropes about his solo work 
  • Creator Thumbprint: When Pharrell produces a song - his own work or someone else's - his version of a "producer tag" is to repeat the first beat of the song four times in a row.
  • The Idealist: "Happy" is all about this trope.
  • Ordinary People's Music Video: “Happy” is made from a 24-hour long supercut which filmed a lot of ordinary people, a few celebrities, and occasionally Williams himself dancing to the song on the streets of Los Angeles.

(Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof (Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth (Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you (Because I'm happy)
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do (Come on)

Alternative Title(s): NERD

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