By Isaiah Smith/entertainment editor
Pharrell Williams, best known for his days in The Neptunes, releases his solo-debut album In My Mind.
While most producers stay in the background, Pharrell has become a star anyway.
“ The fans … they just treat me like I’ve had an album,” he said in a press release.
“ So I started thinking, ‘What am I doing? Maybe I should do an album,’” he said.
Despite already finding success with The Neptunes’ 2003 album The Neptunes Present … Clones as well as with both N.E.R.D. albums In Search of … and Fly Or Die, Pharrell is finding his solo voice.
This hip-hop, R&B hybrid has an upbeat, happy feel throughout. Inventive beats sound jazzy, techno and classic all at once.
Pharrell is not lacking in duet partners either. Artists featured on In My Mind include Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and even Gwen Stefani.
Pharrell’s production credits include the likes of No Doubt, Busta Rhymes, Usher, Britney Spears, *NSYNC, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Kelis, Justin Timberlake and superstar Mariah Carey, among many others.
Stefani is on the first single off of the album. “Can I Have It Like That” is already making waves on the radio. The beat is off-the-wall, but the duo pulls it off.
The best choice for a single is “Our Father,” a prayer sung to Jesus thanking him for all of Pharrell’s success.
This track would be a good crossover hit with Christian and secular radio alike.
Pharrell sings in his usual falsetto-soul tone and rocks his type of music.
Wordplay is a key to this album.
Pharrell’s lyrics flow like a river.
They are deftly and expertly executed track after track.
Actually, sometimes the music is a little too flowing because the songs start to flow together.
As a result, a large majority of these songs are forgettable.
I listened to this CD several times while writing this article, and I cannot even remember some of the songs at all.
“ Raspy ****” and “Young Girl” both make my head hurt a little with beats that sound like drumming on a trash can lid.
I could not stand to listen to that song with an open mind, unfortunately.
“ Number One,” featuring Kanye West, is another single that has been released.
However, I have not heard it on the radio.
Kanye West is so passé now, Pharrell would have done better on his own here.
Pharrell slows it down too on “Take It Off,” a sensual R&B track.
The ambient beat and breathy vocals add a sense of intimacy to this song. I think he did a good job on this one.
“ The hip-hop songs are more the introspective side of my view and how I look at life,” he said in the release.
“ And the R&B stuff is the more vulnerable side,” the artist added.
The jazz-infused track “You Can Do It Too” has a ’40s lounge feel to it, very retro.
All in all, In My Mind is a fairly good CD; it makes good background music.
I give it three stars.
Something about this music is just forgettable … wait … what was I talking about?
