Pharrell Williams on “Piece by Piece” and his love of joy

On a rainy day in Paris, Pharrell Williams was at Louis Vuitton headquarters, living his dream, in an office he prefers to call “a dream room.”

Last February, Williams was named men's creative director. He looks after 200 employees and has already launched four new collections. His most recent contribution to UNESCO celebrated the diversity of humanity.

When asked what was most satisfying about seeing his designs on the runway, Williams said, “You're probably not going to like that answer: All of it!” he laughed. “Come on, man. It’s a dream!”

For more than three decades, he has helped make some of pop music's biggest hits, from Nelly's “Hot in Herre” to Gwen Stefani's “Hollaback Girl,” and helped bridge the gap between pop culture and high fashion.

He says the runway is just another way for him to show people who he is: “I always want to evoke a feeling of joy because I feel like there is a deficit of joy in the world.”

Sanneh asked, “But I imagine you still have to pay attention to: 'Is anyone buying these clothes that I made?'”

“Sure, then you start to question the success,” Williams said. “But man, you gotta enjoy it. If you enjoy it, nine times out of ten someone else will enjoy it too.”

Now there's something new to enjoy: “Piece by Piece,” an animated Lego film about Williams' life directed by award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville. Last month at the Toronto Film Festival, Williams said he still couldn't believe he got to make this film. “I come from a marginalized community where we often hear the word 'no' all the time,” he said. “For whatever reason (for 'Piece by Piece') we got a lot of yes votes.”

“It seems like one of your superpowers is getting people to say 'yes' to things they would otherwise say 'no' to,” Sanneh said.

“It wasn’t that hard; “It’s just harder for people who look like me,” Williams replied. “But if we tell it in Lego, it’s now universal. Replace black with LGBTQIA, or Indian, or Asian, or short, or plus size, or anything. LEGO is the great equalizer.”

To watch a trailer for “Piece by Piece,” click on the video player below:

As a boy growing up in an apartment complex in Virginia Beach, Williams, a self-described outsider, saw and heard the world differently than most people because of a condition called synesthesia that causes him to “see” the colors of sound. : “For me.” The image and sound are still connected, so they send ghost images to each other. It's a state, but at the same time it's a gift, because I don't know how I would make music if I couldn't see it. That’s how I imagine it.”

He formed a duo called The Neptunes with his childhood friend Chad Hugo. They were discovered by music producer Teddy Riley, who saw them perform at a high school talent show. In 1992, around his 19th birthday, Williams helped Riley write a hit single called “Rump Shaker”, which was recorded by the hip-hop group Wreckx-N-Effect.

Williams said: “If it wasn’t for Teddy Riley I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. Because I was in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where there was no music studio, no music industry or anything like that.”

The Neptunes produced a string of hits, and then Williams struck out on his own and became a bona fide pop star. His voice was heard everywhere, although Williams himself had mixed feelings about it: “I had a song with Snoop called 'Beautiful,' right? Girls heard me singing that; I Mickey Mouse belongs! I swear to you, if you just take a moment and just listen, you'll never be able to forget it. But that's what I hear.

“Sexy Mickey Mouse?” asked Sanneh.

“No, not sexy, just Mickey Mouse. It was wild for me.”

By the early 2000s, Williams says she was feeling lost: “I had drifted away from studying and things were becoming too formulaic. And that disturbed my mind and I couldn’t feel what I was doing.”

He recovered by being a little more open to new ideas – working with Daft Punk on “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke on “Blurred Lines.”

“Get Lucky” by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers:

The producers of Despicable Me 2 asked him to write a song for the soundtrack… something Happy. “I would never have written a song called 'Happy,'” he said. “It was a mission for me. And on top of that, I didn't think I would have any more hit records. The universe was like, 'Well, it's not just you, it's me that's wrong. “I'm going to have three different orders from three different places, and those are going to be the biggest records for you.” It just humbled me because it was like that , as if I couldn't be arrogant.

“Happy” by Pharrell Williams:

Of course, Williams, now 51, composed the theme song for the new film “Piece by Piece”:

He set up a music studio in his office so he can make songs while working on the next Louis Vuitton collection. But he says he never feels like he's on the clock.

When asked if the pressure takes any of the joy away, Williams replied: “It's not pressure, it's a privilege. You can't go wrong if your goal is to enjoy what you do. You can't go wrong.”

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The story was produced by Robbyn McFadden. Editor: Steven Tyler.