In 2006, when masterful singer-songwriter, producer, hit-maker, guest star and whatever else Pharrell Williams released his debut solo album (In My Mind<\/i>), it fell fast and hit hard.\u00a0 The album\u2019s lack of success or critical acclaim was one thing, but it must have been a bitter pill for Williams to swallow considering the innumerable amount of songs he had helped (in one way or another) turn into hits. Not to mention the countless guest spots he did on so many of his peers\u2019 albums.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
His writing and co-writing credits go on forever, dating back over the last decade and when In My Mind<\/i> failed to excite even his most hardcore fan base, I found myself thinking that maybe he was destined to be a gun-for-hire singles man forever. Nothing wrong with that at all, but when an artist seemingly has as much potential and talent that Williams does, it is kind of baffling as to why he isn\u2019t enjoying success on his own albums. Understandably there is a big difference between writing a few songs here and there and writing a full album every few years, but given the sheer number of regular collaborators Williams works with, you would think it couldn\u2019t be that hard a task. <\/p>\n
\u00a0Finally in 2014 we have just the second solo album release of Williams\u2019 career, and with the first one being so flat and uninspired, it\u2019s no surprise that this second one is much better than the first.\u00a0 By no means a masterpiece\u2014at no one point does it reach spectacular heights\u2014GIRL<\/i> is lots of fun and has a cool, consistent, ambient vibe right throughout the record. Williams wrote and produced the album himself and there are (surprisingly) only a few guest artists to help out across the ten tracks.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Thematically, GIRL<\/i> is all about women and how much Williams loves and respects them, as well as enjoying their company after sundown. Much has been made of that concept, which has been described as Williams\u2019 response to the criticism heaped on \u201cBlurred Lines,\u201d a song he produced and co-wrote with Robin Thicke that delivers a harsh portrayal of a certain type of woman. (Some protests suggesting that the song actually advocated rape.)<\/p>\n
Whatever the reasoning behind the concept, it makes for an enjoyable, harmless listen with not even the obligatory warning label that accompanies most r&b and pop releases these days. Throughout the disc there are expressions of love and joy, and musically it is a fun ride as it delves into the retro lightweight funk sounds of the late seventies and eighties (think Chic, Michael Jackson, Prince). The opening track \u201cMarilyn Monroe\u201d is one of the strongest on the record and harbors some great Barry White-style orchestration. Disappointingly, though, the song isn\u2019t about the Hollywood icon, she is just referenced in the chorus. The insanely catchy and delirious \u201cHappy\u201d (from Despicable Me 2<\/i>) is here and also is a high point, proving that Williams has some fine, if limited, vocal chops.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Justin Timberlake appears for the sweet Chic-inspired \u201cBrand New\u201d and it\u2019s kind of freaky how much alike JT and Pharrell sound, though the track on this one is minimal and it doesn\u2019t really lift off like it should.\u00a0 Alicia Keys pops on \u201cKnow Who You Are,\u201d but again, it\u2019s just a cool and breezy track that isn\u2019t really a stretch for either artist. The two best songs on the record come together early on with \u201cHunter\u201d and \u201cGush,\u201d which both sound inspired by classic Prince, but don\u2019t think for a minute they get anywhere near a \u201cKiss\u201d or \u201cU Got The Look.\u201d <\/p>\n
Overall, GIRL <\/i>is a fine, inoffensive album that proves Williams can fill out a full album of his own material and hold your interest in the process. It sounds like he is holding back, afraid to really unleash his full bag of tricks, but for the sound and vibe he was going for on GIRL<\/i>, he nailed it right down and that\u2019s probably all you can ask for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":31874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9362],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-43596","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pharrell-williams","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43596"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}