Episode 280: 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.

footnotes:
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

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Episode 279: Troye Sivan

“One Of Your Girls”

Troye Sivan is a singer and songwriter from Australia. He’s been nominated for a Golden Globe, two Grammys, and he’s won four of Australia’s ARIA awards. His song “My My My!” was a #1 hit on the Billboard Dance Chart, and his third album, Something to Give Each Other, was one of Billboard’s picks for the best albums of 2023. Troye’s also an actor; he was in the HBO series The Idol, which figures into the story that he tells about this song. Troye came to the studio and we talked about how he made one of his big hits, the song “One of Your Girls.” For that song, he worked with two of his longtime collaborators: his frequent songwriting partner, Leland, and producer Oscar Görres.

You can buy or stream “One Of Your Girls” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:

Max Martin – synth
Adele
Lady Gaga
Marabou
Daft Punk
“One Of The Girls”
The Weeknd
Backstreet Boys
“Baby One More Time”
1989
“Bloom”

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Episode 278: Beabadoobee

“Coming Home”

Beabadoobee is an award-winning singer and songwriter from England who’s been releasing music since 2017. Her third album is called This Is How Tomorrow Moves. It came out in August 2024 and went to #1 on the UK charts. She made the album with her bandmate Jacob Bugden and with producer Rick Rubin at his studio, Shangri-La, in Malibu. And for this episode, I talked to Bea about a song from that album called “Coming Home.”

You can buy or stream “Coming Home” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:

Luca Caruso – piano
CJ Camerieri – trumpet
Thompson Hollywood
Taylor Swift
“The Wedding Singer”
The Beatles Anthology

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