The Mycenaean

After a wildly successful 2013 year, Pharrell Williams has made yet another musical debut.

The Grammy award winning artist released his new album G I R L on March 3.

G I R L is Williams’ first solo album since his release of In My Mind in 2006. More recently, Williams appeared on award winning tracks like “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk and “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke. These popular tracks helped earn back a lot of Williams’ popularity, giving him the foundation for a successful album release.

After hearing about Williams’ new album, I decided to listen to G I R L to see what all of the hype was about. Not surprisingly, the album exceeded my expectations.

G I R L features eleven tracks, all of which echo the influences of Earth, Wind, and Fire and Marvin Gaye with their 70’s-funk. To add an original flare, modern background beats and instruments work their way into most of the songs. The two styles of music combine to produce a sound different from that found on most of the R&B/pop albums on iTunes. The album also features collaborations from Miley Cyrus, Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake.

G I R L’s 70’s-mod theme carries throughout the entirety of the album, making its appearance on slower songs like “I Know Who You Are,” as well as the more upbeat songs like “Happy,” the album’s leading single.

Some of the songs on Williams’ album–like the opening track, “Marilyn Monroe–” even incorporate orchestral components. After doing a little more research on G I R L, I learned that Williams collaborated with Hans Zimmer, a Grammy award winning composer best known for his score for The Lion King. Zimmer has also orchestrated movies like Inception and The Amazing Spiderman. Knowing that Williams teamed up with Zimmer only reassures the fact that G I R L is a quality album.

For those who embody an old soul and appreciate the musical stylistics of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, I highly recommend Williams’ album G I R L. It is truly an excellent album, embracing both simplicity and class through its carefully composed melodies.

Lindsay Baker, senior editor 2015-16