The second wind that Pharrell's career has recently experienced has been a pleasurable occurrence in the monoculture, but the surprise of his latest career renaissance has only been matched by its harmlessness. Compared to the bubblegum-snapping weirdness of the music he made earlier in his career, Pharrell's in a safer place now, in that his recent work could be considered "club music" if you were attending a bat mitzvah that was being held in a club. When he recently sat down with Oprah to discuss his success, the talk-show doyenne showed him a compilation of videos from around the world set to his still-ubiquitous single "Happy". Overwhelmed, Pharrell started crying—and crying on TV with Oprah at your side is, if nothing else, a sign that you've truly made it.
The potential for Pharrell the Producer to become Pharrell the World-Conquering Solo Artist has never been more within the ageless-looking artist's reach, and the opportunity is clearly not lost on him. "I was the guy standing next to the guy," he said in the middle of his performance at last night's Apollo Theatre, a tie-in with American Express' previously dormant Unstaged concert series. "I got a chance to be here because you believed in me."
That's not the whole story: Press materials for Pharrell's recent solo album, G I R L, weren't shy in suggesting the record's genesis was a result of Columbia seeing dollar signs after hearing "Get Lucky" for the first time. A record with a host of other songs that ranged between "That'll do" and "No thanks," G I R L was evidence that, despite his considerable talents, Pharrell is just as content to do Just Enough to stay afloat musically. And indeed, his performance last night was a top-notch example of Just Enough: at 9:01 p.m., just one minute after the Spike Lee-directed livestream of the show was scheduled to start, Pharrell and his band took the stage, house lights on and house music blaring until it was abruptly cut off, and launched into things with most of the audience still taking their seats—an anticlimactic and somewhat awkward way for one of the most visible musicians of the moment to kick off a show at a legendary venue.
The 50-minute show that followed was a mix of G I R L cuts—roughly half the album was performed—and highlights from Pharrell's non-solo material that ranged from his verse on Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot", to his recent underrated Major Lazer collab "Aerosol Can", to a curiously "clean" version of N.E.R.D.'s "Lap Dance" that had a few white-tank-top bros in the audience thrashing about, albeit briefly. There were guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, who sported his best Cousin Skeeter haircut while performing "Pass the Courvoisier", and T.I., who came out and perfunctorily did his part on "Blurred Lines" before disappearing as awkwardly as he emerged. It certainly wasn't the collab-packed show that Coachella audiences were treated to just a few months ago, and even as a singular concert experience and considering the Apollo's comparatively modest size, the energy of the performance felt weirdly subdued; the constant presence of Lee's camera rigs provided further distractions from what was going on onstage, and made me wonder if I would've enjoyed the show more if I was watching it at home on my laptop.
Ironically, the show's most engaging moments occurred when there wasn't music at all. Pharrell is an exceptionally likable figure, even if he lacks the stage presence to classify him as a must-see performer, so his stage banter proved mildly entertaining as he sported a tattered jean jacket, a long beaded necklace, jeans with a bunch of trinkets hanging off the back, and yes, a green "Dudley Do-Right" hat. "You are now meeting all the different baes," he stated while introducing his crew of accompanying female dancers (two of which pull double duty as singers), adding with a total lack of subtlety that underlined his affable, kiddie-pool-deep persona, "Hashtag bae." After offering thanks to several individuals who played an integral role in his career—former manager Rob Walker, singer Tammy Lucas—he paused for a moment, and said, "I get too sensitive, so let me change the channel."
With G I R L, Pharrell made an attempt to engage with gender politics, however feeble it may have been; recent comments have shown that it's something he's continuing to wrestle on a public, surface-deep level, and so last night he spent ample time between songs paying tribute to the opposite sex. "I don't know about you guys, but I like different girls," he stated before launching into the stuffy "Marilyn Monroe". Later, he stated that "Women are not sitting down anymore" as a lead-up to a truncated version of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl"—but not before unleashing one of the crassest corporate tie-ins I've ever seen directed towards the forever-ongoing issue of gender inequality: "When history changes, I'm gonna be on the right side of it with you—and so is American Express."
The glorified-loan-shark mega-corporation's branding for the event was, in actuality, somewhat subtle— the Apollo wasn't exactly emblazoned with reminders Not to Leave Home Without It—but Pharrell picked up the slack for them regardless. "Such great vision that company has," he stated in tribute to his corporate overlords. "Make some noise for American Express." The crowd obliged in such a way that it was hard to tell whether they were simply following instructions, or if they were all employees of American Express.
Complaining about corporate involvement in music culture circa 2014 is as effective as grousing about the weather—but Pharrell's insistence at over-shilling was enough to make a casual observer feel cynical (or, in the case of the audience members surrounding me, elicit nervous, confused laughter). It's important to remember, though, that even "Happy", that bastion of positivity that has quite possibly changed people's lives the same way perfect pop music has for decades, also helped sell one of the most successful animated major-studio films of last year. Pharrell is as capable of a pitchman as he is a producer, and as he barrels through 2014, the product he continues to sell most aggressively is himself—but if last night's performance was his latest pitch, it leaves me wondering if he whistled in the elevator beforehand.