work. While it’s easy to
recognize his career highs and
lows (because most of us have
lived through them), the live
conversation gave his admirers
a look at a rarely seen side of
Skateboard P. Most of the
stories he shared, fans have
heard in other interviews. But
it was his reactions to the
statements that stood out. It
also has to do with him in 2015
looking back at his earliest
beginnings. A lot happens in
20-something years.
voicemails, but the shyness he
gets from hearing his own
musical works in public.
During the interview, King
tried to play The Neptunesproduced “Superthug” when
Pharrell stopped him.
“Listening to my own music, it
makes me shy.” The crowd
gave a collective “awwwww,”
but it wasn’t enough for
Pharrell to get away without
listening to his music on stage,
even if he did cover his face
the entire time.
Here are some of the
conversation's highlights:
Brazil inspired Kelis'
“Milkshake.”
Pharrell suffers from an
extreme case of “voicemail
syndrome.”
Sometimes inspiration comes
from unlikely places. But being
inspired by a country like
Brazil sounds completely
plausible, especially if it’s to
write and produce a single
like Kelis’ 2003 single,
“Milkshake.” The story goes,
Pharrell was in Brazil
surrounded by beautiful
women and a type of music
that he compared to as “booty
shakin’ music in Portuguese.”
It inspired him to create a
According to Pharrell,
“voicemail syndrome” is when
you hate listening to yourself
on voicemail. The words
“voicemail syndrome” were
said so matter-of-factly that I
could’ve sworn it was an actual
syndrome with millions of
think pieces written on the
subject. It wasn’t. In this case,
Pharrell isn’t talking about
JOY FEELINGS | DECEMBER ISSUE
99