Pharrell Williams has had a long and illustrious career: from one half of The Neptunes to Piece by Piece, a 2024 autobiopic done completely in Lego-styled animation, it seems there isn’t anything Williams wouldn’t do to share his love of music.
Pharrell Williams
Gwen Stefani
Kendrick Lamar
Timbaland
Justin Timberlake
Busta Rhymes
Jay-Z
Snoop Dogg
Pusha T
N.O.R.E.
Williams is a unique and highly talented individual who made himself indispensable in the music industry by producing a large number of hits since the late 1990s. It is even alleged that at the height of The Neptunes’s popularity in the early 2000s, they produced about 40% of the popular songs on the radio. Williams, however, was not satisfied. He would take his musical talents off the radio and into theaters worldwide… which then went back on the radio. Starting with Despicable Me (2010), Williams went on a rampage in the film industry and collaborated with several well-known movie composers to create some of his biggest hits in the modern era.
Despicable Me
Steve Carell
Jason Segel
Miranda Cosgrove
Elsie Fisher
Dana Gaier
Russell Brand
Julie Andrews
Will Arnett
Kristen Wiig
Pierre Coffin
Chris Renaud
Jemaine Clement
Directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin had an instant hit on their hands with Despicable Me (2010). With the vocal stylings of legendary actors like Steve Carrell, Julie Andrews, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Segel, the film became a modern classic, receiving positive reviews from critics and audiences worldwide. The film follows Gru, a supervillain with plans to take over the world; however, the plans fall flat when he encounters three orphan girls who take him on an emotional journey through fatherhood. Williams captures the themes and tonal shifts of the movie in pleasant ways in tracks like “Despicable Me,” which takes a twist on espionage/noir-styled music with sinister undertones that make a perfect theme song for the film's introduction. At a pivotal moment in Gru’s life, “Prettiest Girls” plays as the theme for the girls as they bond with Gru. It’s soft, playful, and happy: a new and exciting emotion for Gru.
Check out the full Despicable Me soundtrack here.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Andrew Garfield
Emma Stone
Jamie Foxx
Dane DeHaan
Colm Feore
Felicity Jones
Paul Giamatti
Sally Field
Embeth Davidtz
Campbell Scott
Marton Csokas
Louis Cancelmi
Directed by Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, and Sally Field. In this film, Peter Parker (Garfield) must juggle relationships and the powers he’s been given as they begin to tear his life apart. Although Williams produced a good chunk of the film’s soundtrack, the standout track for this film is “It’s On Again,” which served as an outro theme. The track features Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamar on an upbeat, hopeful sound that encapsulates the determination of Peter Parker, who nearly retired from the red and blue spankies after facing multiple tragedies in his personal life. Still, despite it all, he continues to don the spider.
Check out the full The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack here.
Paddington
Ben Whishaw
Hugh Bonneville
Sally Hawkins
Madeleine Harris
Samuel Joslin
Nicole Kidman
Julie Walters
Imelda Staunton
Peter Capaldi
Michael Gambon
Jim Broadbent
Madeleine Worrall
Paddington is a 2014 film directed by Paul King, based on the popular British children’s book series “Paddington Bear.” The film stars Ben Whishaw as Paddington, a small bear who travels to London in search of a new home after losing his uncle and his aunt losing the ability to care for him. Primarily a promotional track, “Shine” features Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams–as both producer and artist. Bouncing off Stefani’s strengths, the track takes a spin on Ska music by lowering the tempo… and singing about a bear. The song thematically works for the movie, as it explores love, family, and friendship: facets of life that both Paddington and the humans learn throughout the film.
Check out the full Paddington soundtrack here.
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Tom Kenny
Bill Fagerbakke
Rodger Bumpass
Clancy Brown
Mr. Lawrence
Carolyn Lawrence
Antonio Banderas
Eric Bauza
Tim Conway
Eddie Deezen
Rob Paulsen
Kevin Michael Richardson
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), directed by Paul Tibbit and Mike Mitchel,l stars the usual underwater ensemble: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Carolyn Lawrence, and Mr. Lawrence, as well as Antonio Banderas and Matt Berry. In this second theatrical appearance of these salty friends, Mr. Krabs (Brown) finds that his secret Krabby Patty formula was stolen, not by his usual business rival, Plankton (Mr. Lawrence), but by a conniving pirate named Burger Beard (Banderas) with a magical book. N*E*R*D–one of Williams’s other musical groups–created a short EP that featured songs from the film, the most notable being “Squeeze Me.” It's a cute theme song for the film that plays on Spongebob’s cartoonishly squishy properties. It wraps up the film nicely as it maintains the childlike wonder of the highly absorbent titular character but doesn’t talk down to its audience.
Check out the full The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water soundtrack here.
With the upcoming Golden (2025), a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age musical about Pharrell's young life directed by Michel Gondry, you could say Pharrell's influence and musical talents continue to shape the music and film industries.