Pharrell reminisces on collaborating with Daft Punk for ‘Random Access Memories’
To honour the tenth anniversary of their monumental fourth and final studio record, Random Access Memories, Daft Punk are releasing a series of ‘Memory Tapes’ featuring their collaborators on YouTube. The latest entry comes from Pharrell Williams.
Williams co-wrote and featured on ‘Get Lucky’, the album’s hit lead single, as well as the follow-up single ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’.
Reminiscing on his time collaborating with Daft Punk, Williams began, “When monumental things happen, sometimes it’s lost on me because I’m just so in it and being so present in the moment. And you’d think that would give you all the detail in the world but it does the exact opposite for me, I get lost in it.”
Williams was first introduced to Daft Punk through their former manager Busy P, which led to a The Neptunes remix of ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’. “Their music always just had, like, a different kind of sparkle,” he recalls, “I suppose if we would’ve never done that remix, we may not even had the connection that we did…”
“Working with them is just very magical because I feel like we all see music the same way. We saw music as just like, gift that was given to us to connect with people and set people free and liberate people,” he reminisced.
Rather than featuring as a vocalist, Williams had initially expected to just be a songwriter for ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’. “I didn’t know who was gonna end up singing it,” he continued, “I left the studio thinking, ‘Okay, can’t wait to see who sings and what it sounds like.”
A special tenth-anniversary edition of Random Access Memories was released earlier this year, featuring unreleased demos and outtakes. Daft Punk have also announced Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition), set for release on Friday, November 17th.
Watch the full Random Access Memories ‘Memory Tape’ with Pharrell Williams below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.