Song Exploder – Pharrell Williams

“Piece By Piece”

Pharrell Williams is—well, let me just say, he’s a big reason why Song Exploder exists. He’s a singer, songwriter and producer, and in the 90s, when I first heard the work 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’s been nominated for two Oscars. He’s produced iconic songs for Kendrick Lamar and Britney Spears and Clipse and Gwen Stefani, and so many others. And on his own, he’s made songs like “Happy,” the giant hit for Despicable Me that was the best-selling song of 2014. And now, there’s a movie about his life called Piece by Piece. But it’s 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 the song, including a first draft that never saw the light of day. You’ll hear how he first built “Piece by Piece” 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.

You can buy or stream “Piece by Piece” here.

For the Song Exploder episode with Run The Jewels about the song “JU$T,” which features backing vocals from Pharrell, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Brent Paschke – guitar
Princess Ann High School Fabulous Marching Cavaliers
“Beautiful” – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams
The scorpion jacket that Ryan Gosling wears in the movie Drive
1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Logic Pro
Clavichord