Pharrell Almost Worked With Michael Jackson
The ‘Happy’ hitmaker, Pharell Williams, almost worked with Michael Jackson in the early 2000s. The singer, in an interview, revisited that moment on the ‘Drink Champs’ podcast. This is what he had to say about it.
The album, “Justified” released on November 5th, 2002 was received well by the audience and has a positive review from critics as well to its credit. The very famous and much-loved track ‘Cry Me a River’ by Justin Timberlake is also a part of this album. Pharrell said in an episode that came out on 19th December that most tracks from Justin Timberlake’s album “Justified” was written for the King Of Pop!
A Couple Shots Later…
Pharrell appeared on a podcast with N.O.R.E and DJ EFN on their show the “Drink Champs” where nothing is off-limits after the guest stars and the hosts have downed a couple of shots.
N.O.R.E reckoned, “You hit me and said, ‘Yo, I just sent Michael Jackson some beats!’, talking to Pharrell. “You said to me, ‘He told me, “NOPE! I don’t think N.O.R.E. would rhyme on that. I was like, ‘My life is done!'”
“John McClain was his manager at the time. We sent him pretty much all the stuff you guys are hearing on the first Justified album — that’s all Michael stuff. All but one song, they were written for Michael.” Pharrell added talking about the incident. He continued, “John McClain was like, ‘Man, Michael don’t want that s–t! He want the s–t you givin’ Noreaga!'” recalling that this was right before MJ’s “You Rock My World” time. It also happened to be his collaborations with N.O.R.E that MJ really wanted.
Rejections? Or Wins?
Well, although it did go through rejection, the album became Justin Timberlake’s major hit that Pharrell produced the majority of. The album peaked at No. 2 in the Billboard 200 chart and has also been certified with the triple platinum. Justin also co-wrote all 13 tracks from the album. All’s well, that ends well right?
Turns out, MJ wasn’t the only superstar to decline to work on Pharrell’s tunes. “Purple Rain” star, Prince rejected his work too, Pharrell told his hosts who were seen sipping on the drink named after the icon’s album.
Pharrell went on to reveal that the track called ‘Frontin’ that he has recorded was originally written for Prince. “My first attempt at making a record with him was “Frontin’,”. “I think I wrote a different version a little bit for him. He wasn’t into it.”, he admitted to the hosts. When the host sheepishly admitted that he thinks it is one of his favourite “Pharrell tunes”, the rapper said that it was him pretending to be Prince, as he laughed.
That was one fun interview with filled with nostalgia, some laughs and some very interesting revelations! Watch the full interview here:
By: Aatira Kakroo
