Michael Jackson Interviews Pharrell Williams — Complete Text - Part One:
Michael Jackson: Hello?
Pharrell Williams: Hello! How are you man?
MJ: You must forgive me, but Gregory Peck, who just died yesterday, was a very dear friend of mine, and I’ve been helping his wife prepare the memorial and all those things. So please forgive me for being late with this call.
PW: No, listen, man, I can’t believe I’m on the phone with you.
MJ: Oh, God bless you.
PW: Thank you, sir. You too.
MJ: Thank you. So, I’m interviewing you, right? And I think it’s seven questions, or something lime that?
PW: Sure. Whatever you like.
MJ: Okay. What would you say inspires you in your music? What is it that inspires you to create your music.
PW: It’s a feeling. You treat the air as a canvas and the paint is the chords that come through your fingers, out of the keyboard. So when I’m playing, I’m sort of painting a feeling in the air. I know that might sound corny, but-
MJ: -No. No, that’s a perfect analogy.
PW: And when you know it’s done, you know it’s done. It’s like painting or sculpting. When you let it go it’s because you know that it’s finished. It’s completed. And vice versa-it tells you, “Hey, I’m done.”
MJ: Yeah. And it refuses to let you sleep until it’s finished.
PW: That’s right.
MJ: Yeah, I go through the same thing. [laughs] And what do you think of the music today-are you into the new sounds that are being created and the direction that music is going?
PW: Well, personally, I kind of feel like I’m taking notes from people like yourself and Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, and just sort of doing what feels right.
MJ: Right.
PW: You know, like when everyone was going one way, you went Off The Wall.
MJ: Right. [laughs]
PW: And when everyone else was going another way, you went Thriller. You just did it your way. And I’m taking notes from people like yourself, like not being afraid to listen to your feelings and turn your aspirations and ambitions into material. Making it happen, making it materialize.
Michael Jackson: Hello?
Pharrell Williams: Hello! How are you man?
MJ: You must forgive me, but Gregory Peck, who just died yesterday, was a very dear friend of mine, and I’ve been helping his wife prepare the memorial and all those things. So please forgive me for being late with this call.
PW: No, listen, man, I can’t believe I’m on the phone with you.
MJ: Oh, God bless you.
PW: Thank you, sir. You too.
MJ: Thank you. So, I’m interviewing you, right? And I think it’s seven questions, or something lime that?
PW: Sure. Whatever you like.
MJ: Okay. What would you say inspires you in your music? What is it that inspires you to create your music.
PW: It’s a feeling. You treat the air as a canvas and the paint is the chords that come through your fingers, out of the keyboard. So when I’m playing, I’m sort of painting a feeling in the air. I know that might sound corny, but-
MJ: -No. No, that’s a perfect analogy.
PW: And when you know it’s done, you know it’s done. It’s like painting or sculpting. When you let it go it’s because you know that it’s finished. It’s completed. And vice versa-it tells you, “Hey, I’m done.”
MJ: Yeah. And it refuses to let you sleep until it’s finished.
PW: That’s right.
MJ: Yeah, I go through the same thing. [laughs] And what do you think of the music today-are you into the new sounds that are being created and the direction that music is going?
PW: Well, personally, I kind of feel like I’m taking notes from people like yourself and Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, and just sort of doing what feels right.
MJ: Right.
PW: You know, like when everyone was going one way, you went Off The Wall.
MJ: Right. [laughs]
PW: And when everyone else was going another way, you went Thriller. You just did it your way. And I’m taking notes from people like yourself, like not being afraid to listen to your feelings and turn your aspirations and ambitions into material. Making it happen, making it materialize.
