Out on March 4, Pharrell Williams’ new solo album, GIRL, was his first in eight years and a refreshing break from a year stacked with collaborations, features and producing.
2013 was huge for Williams who appeared on several of the most well known tracks and albums of the year.
When he was not behind the scenes turning rough sketches into chart-topping hits, he was lending his voice to make them even better.
Pharrell received a lot of attention and radio play for his appearances on “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk and “IFHY” by Tyler the Creator, as well as his production of controversial hit “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.
Williams also picked up four Grammy Awards for his work on the Album of the Year, Daft Punk’s universally acclaimed Random Access Memories. Random Access Memories received a score of 87/100 from Metacritic, a site that compiles and weighs critic and user reviews.
It has been a long time, however, since Pharrell Williams has put out new music of his own. His most recent efforts, N.E.R.D.’s 2010 album, Nothing, and his 2006 solo album, In My Mind, were received with mixed but mostly average reviews by critics. This time, Pharrell is ushering in the new year with a grandiose and heavily advertised solo record chock full of big name features.
Williams duets with Justin Timberlake on the second track of the album, “Brand New,” a lively song laden with horns that beautifully brings together two of the greatest voices in pop music.
Miley Cyrus joins Williams for a little while halfway through the album on “Come Get it Bae.” Alicia Keys takes over half of the singing duties on the infectious “Know Who You Are”.
In addition, the always-grooving Daft Punk returns the favor for Pharrell’s contributions to Random Access Memories on standout track “Gust of Wind”.
However, the downside to his admittedly catchy album is that, instead of taking the spotlight and holding his own in front of the album’s talented contributors, Williams often seems like the one being featured.
One thing about GIRL that is telling of this is the striking genre jumping within the album — not always a bad characteristic, but one that tends to seem a bit out of place in this effort.
Despicable Me 2 gem and lead single “Happy” is a revival of finger-snapping Motown spirit, but the slow-jam in the second half of eight-minute-long “Lost Queen” into the reggae pulse of “Know Who You Are” seems to result in an odd balance rather than a cohesive record.
In fact, “Brand New” and “Gust of Wind” may be better suited on Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories than on GIRL.
The features and genre jumping make GIRL feel more like a compilation of singles than necessarily a successful solo album. That does not mean, though, that Williams is not capable of creating gold on his own.
The deep bass and soaring strings in album opener “Marilyn Monroe” showcase some of his best writing. He croons about the pop star over a beat that could get any wallflower out on the dance floor.
“Hunter” is a refreshing testament to disco, despite its suspicious similarity to the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”.
While not the most consistent album in terms of mood and genre, GIRL is certainly not a failure. In fact, from the quality of many of the songs, it is definitely closer to a success than the opposite.
However, considering the heavy marketing campaign and in the context of his recent work, this solo album comes off as a bit ambitious.
Perhaps Pharrell Williams is at a point in his career where he can afford to thrive on singles, features and producing — three of his immense strengths that were proven in the past year.
Regardless, GIRL certainly does not mark the end of Williams’ successes. After all, the album and “Happy” have both already topped the iTunes charts.
Look out for more from Pharrell Williams this year, including a highly speculated collaboration with alternative artist Beck.
