Pharrell Williams feels "humbled" by the success of his latest single.
The 40-year-old musician originally wrote Happy for animated feature Despicable Me 2, but it has now become a massive hit worldwide. It topped the charts in 16 countries including the US, France and UK, where it has just returned to number one for a third time.
His song reflects the character Felonious Gru, a former villain turned father voiced by Steve Carell.
Although Pharrell found the task daunting at first, he is thrilled by the positive responses.
“It’s incredibly rewarding. I’ve never been so humbled in my entire life,” he gushed to British newspaper The Daily Star.
“It seemed like the most difficult thing ever, write a song for a mean-spirited character in the film who has this dry humour, trying to make him be happy.”
When recording the song Pharrell aimed to channel an idol of his, Curtis Mayfield. The soul legend passed away in 1999 and his career led him to be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“I was pretending to be the masterful Curtis Mayfield," Pharrell smiled. “I hope he likes it, I’m trying to do what he would’ve done.”
The singer-and-producer recently released his new album G I R L, his second solo album following his 2006 debut In My Mind. One of the tracks is called Gust Of Wind, which he collaborated on with Daft Punk. He and the French duo previously worked together on two tracks for their album Random Access Memories, with Get Lucky breaking records upon its release.
Pharrell is proud of the finished piece and explained the inspiration behind his favourite track.
“This feels like some of my most important work I’ve ever done," he explained.
"[Gust Of Wind is] my favourite because it was the first song that came to me. I’ve never had dreams about music before but I just woke up and I had it there. But those robots are so cryptic. They are like so 007 about everything.”
