By now, no one can deny that Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” has spawned two successful careers for the French men and their collaborator Pharrell Williams. While both acts had considerable recognition and success before, this year has been a huge shift in the audience that both artists are able to connect with. Pharrell Williams has been on top 40 radio and has won Grammys before his huge Grammy win this year, but it still pales in comparison to the year he’s had with Daft Punk.
For both acts, it seems like they want to strike while the iron is hot. For Daft Punk that means reissuing their already very successful album. In an unprecedented move for a winner of Album of the Year, Daft Punk has decided to redistribute their entire album for free on YouTube.
The re-released album Random Access Memories was put up on YouTube/Vevo on Monday night and has already made major waves on the internet. Of course, this was expected to happen given the duo’s success and large record sales. This version of the album is called Random Access Memories Unboxed , which is a jumbled version of the original tracks. The intro video shows the Daft Punk robots laying a vinyl copy on a turntable and putting the needle down. That’s when the fun begins for Daft Punk’s fans.
As for Pharrell Williams, the N.E.R.D. producer turned singer, is currently gearing up to drop a whole new album for his fans. His album, which is called G I R L, is already getting pretty nice treatment in the trades because of Pharrell’s feminist turn in his explanation for the album title.
The G I R L album hits stores on March 3 and acts as Pharrell’s follow up to his 2006 album In My Mind. The new album will reunite the singer with Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, and some new names like Miley Cyrus, and JoJo. The collaboration we’re most looking forward to is seeing what Williams cooks up with composer Hans Zimmer. Seeing as how well he’s done with Daft Punk’s brand of pulsing electronic instrumentation, we have high expectations for that particular collaboration.
Of the album title , Pharrell said it’s a tribute to women.
“A world where 75 percent of it is run by women — that’s a different world. That’s gonna happen, and I want to be on the right side of it when it does.”
It also seems like he’s trying to combat the misogyny label he endured for his inclusion in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
Tracks that deal with the perception of women include “Marilyn Monroe” and “Hunter.”