Here's How Pharrell's Friends Think His Brain Works
As evidenced in our special digital issue with Pharrell Williams that went live today, the iconic musician and Louis Vuitton men's creative director is having a moment. The always-moving innovator is about to give a look back at his origins in the new film Piece by Piece: an unorthodox retelling of his career, animated, and using LEGOs.
It exemplifies what's become a hallmark in Williams' illustrious life: his unorthodox approach to everything. Not content at our own analysis, we want to know what it's like to actually work with him, from those who have actually done it.
From Piece by Piece director Morgan Neville to No Malice, Sarah Andelman, founder and creative director of Colette to Pusha T; Hans Zimmer to photographer and fashion star Gabriel Moses, and so many more, we polled an elite crew of Williams’ friends and collaborators to ask a critical question: How does his brillian brain work?
Yoon Ahn
“To me his brain works like a Stealth Bomber that quantum leaps in and out of dimension shooting out rainbow contrails with lucky charms hanging off at the tail.”
No Malice
“‘If you can dream it you can achieve it.’ As cliché as this may sound, this is my primary take away when it comes to P. Before any of this music, fashion, and entertainment took shape, I listened to a gazillion outlandish hopes and dreams of his, and one by one I have witnessed all of them come to fruition. This extreme, radically outside the box thinking has shown me ‘If you want it, only you can get it; whatever it may be.””
Pusha T
“Pharrell’s brain works spontaneously off of a dialed in perspective or inspiration. Many of the hooks/choruses come from actual events, conversations, or stories told amongst our friend group… He finds the colors in our conversations, adds melody to it, and discovers a sweet spot that’s usually a clever ignorance.
He shoots for the moon to insure he lands amongst the stars with hopes of reinventing while camouflaging something old or discovering something new…
In my opinion he makes his own job harder than it needs to be… he’s so futuristic that many haven’t even caught up to his old shit… why you searching for newness?”
Sarah Andelman
“I think of Pharrell’s brain like a vortex: a whirlwind, always working, always building, always mindful and creative.”
Morgan Neville
“Pharrell is all about magical thinking. It’s something that I think he’s honed through the years. He sees things differently and wills unexpected ideas into fruition. The idea for doing a film about him in Lego is a perfect example of something that could’ve been a disaster but worked. I think he’s not afraid of failure, but he is afraid of predictability.”
Hans Zimmer
“I've experienced it time and again. My friend, Pharrell, generating a torrent of thoughts and abstract ideas akin to the flow in music, creating new and revolutionary ideas by combining the beauty of logic and harmony out of seemingly contradictory and dissonant thoughts and basing it all on a deep empathy for humanity and a fearlessness to celebrate light and happiness.”
Gabriel Moses
“P’s a genius man, but also a proper calm spirit. I feel like his level of humility makes him receptive to his surroundings and remain inspired, which is one of the reasons he’s had such longevity within his craft.”
Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuitton’s Chairman & CEO
“Pharrell’s brain is like no other. He thinks in dreams, speaks in joy, and sees life in color.”
Matthew Henson
“Pharrell’s mind works in a very intricate way where sound, color, and texture all play a big part in his creative process across all of his disciplines. He approaches music in the same way he does menswear and it’s been a pleasure to watch!”
