Pharrell Williams - Piece By Piece
Pharrell Williams breaks down "Piece by Piece," from the Lego documentary about his life.
Pharrell Williams is鈥攚ell, let me just say, he鈥檚 a big reason why Song Exploder exists. He鈥檚 a singer, songwriter and producer, and in the 90s, when I first heard the work that he was doing with the Neptunes, which was his production duo with Chad Hugo, it blew my mind. It made me want to know where those sounds came from and where those ideas came from. Pharrell has won 13 Grammys. He鈥檚 been nominated for two Oscars. He鈥檚 produced iconic songs for Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Clipse, Gwen Stefani, and so many others. And on his own, he鈥檚 made songs like 鈥淗appy,鈥� the giant hit for Despicable Me that was the best-selling song of 2014. And now, there鈥檚 a movie about his life called Piece by Piece. But it鈥檚 an animated Lego film. For this episode, I talked to Pharrell about the title song from Piece By Piece. So, coming up, you'll hear how Pharrell built that song, including a first draft that never saw the light of day. You鈥檒l hear how he built 鈥淧iece by Piece鈥� by programming it, on his own, with MIDI instruments, and then adding and replacing those parts with other musicians, including the high school marching band that he used to play in.
