We Are from LA Presents: Pharrell & Friends - "24-Hour Happy" (Despicable Me 2)
Pharrell has long surpassed anyone's expectations who previously pigeon-holed him as a Snoop Dogg & Jay-Z-affiliated Neptunes producer, on-and-off Funk-Rock N*E*R*D frontman, or mere smooth-voiced hookman; he single-handedly co-fronted 2 of the summer's biggest mega-hits, "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines" (but you already know that much). Pharrell has recently started flexing his original soundtrack/composer chops as well, working on the original Despicable Me, it's sequel Despicable Me 2, and a rumored Amazing Spider-Man 2 super-score with composer Hans Zimmer, Mike Einzinger (Incubus), former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, and Dave Stewart (Eurythmics). Fresh on the heels of Bob Dylan's inter-active "Like a Rolling Stone" video, Pharrell and directing team We Are from LA unleashed the world's very first 24-hour music video for Despicable Me 2 single, "Happy" online Thursday-Friday. It reportedly features quick-strike appearances from voice-actor Steve Carell, Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler The Creator, Jamie Foxx, Kelly Osbourne, Magic Johnson, and Earl Sweatshirt, amongst countless others.
According to Fast Company, who investigated a little bit into the making-of "Happy," Pharrell performs the track at the top of every hour, in addition to 14 run-throughs within each hour, which took about 11 days total to film. The Despicable Me 1-2 soundtracks are essentially Pharrell's first solo output(s) since he released his "debut" solo album, In My Mind way back when, while I was a senior in high school (2006) -- Damn! While Pharrell's own art-house iamOTHER uploaded 6 separate 4-hour "Happy" mini-clips, he also released an abridged 4-minute-long music video version of "Happy" late Friday afternoon. Interestingly enough, "24-Hour Happy" is modeled after a standard round-the-clock am/pm alarm clock... But regardless of which edit we're talkin' about, "Happy" features a gaggle of people joyously dancing along with the upbeat track through out the sun-soaked LA streets. Pharrell's personal favorite moments include "Steve Carell (5:08pm) and the one where [he's] running down the hall of a school with two guys on their bikes (10:00pm)."