“I want to use chords I never used before”: Pharrell teases new N.E.R.D. music
“All the songs just have rainbow harmonies,” he says of the new material.
Image: Simone Joyner / Getty Images
Pharrell has confirmed that new N.E.R.D. music is in the works.
In a new interview with Tyler, The Creator for GQ, Pharrell reveals that he has been working on “12 N.E.R.D. records” while in Paris.
Speaking about the process behind the new material, Pharrell says, “They’re big choruses, but you know, out of nowhere, I’ll just come out of nowhere with the three-bar, crazy-nuts chords that go three-bar to four-bar to eight-bar. It’s good bro, it’s good.”
“This is like that feeling that I felt when we made [2001 album] In Search Of…,” the musician adds. “I won’t sit here and tell you that they were hits. I knew it was different, and I knew there won’t be nothing out there like this. But I’m talking about the feeling.”
As for the kind of music fans can expect to see, Pharrell says: “I wanted to do everything. I wanted feelings. I wanted the motherfuckin’ great composition. I wanted great chords.”
“I want to use chords I never used before, and not just the dreamy ones. The ones that I’ve never done, that I fuckin’ hated. But using them in ways to get to other chords where the changes are such a release. And then, lyrically, the harmonies here…all the songs just have rainbow harmonies.”
N.E.R.D.’s most recent album No One Ever Really Dies was released in 2017. The record famously featured guest appearances from a number of industry heavyweights including Rihanna, André 3000, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar.
