Vuitton, Notre-Dame and now UNESCO: why France is falling for Pharrell Williams

Cap, fur jacket and gold teeth, Pharrell Williams performed his global hit “Happy” surrounded by seventy gospel singers during the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris in early December. Sacrilege? Not even. Far from the controversy aroused by the appearance of a naked Philippe Katherine painted blue during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, the singer-producer’s performance went like a letter in the mail. A simple matter of taste?

Since LVMH entrusted him with artistic direction of Louis Vuitton last year, after the sudden death of his great friend Virgil Abloh, the Virginia Beach native has been at home in the French capital. Last summer, Libération revealed that he had taken up residence in a discreet palace backing onto the Samaritaine with his wife Helen and their four children, now at school in Hauts-de-Seine. “I live a love story with the French, France and Paris”he admitted a few months earlier to Madame Figaro.

The antithesis of Kanye West

If you missed the beginning, Pharrell Williams became known to fans of urban music in the early 2000s. With his accomplice Chad Hugo, he was half of The Neptunes, a duo of producers whose signature can be heard on not very Catholic hits like “Drop it Like hot” by Snoop Dogg, “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake or “I’m a slave for you” by Britney Spears.

After recording a handful of albums with the group NERD, Pharrell broke free for good. In 2013, he was the voice of Daft Punk’s legendary “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s partner on the sulphurous “Blurred Lines”. But it is with the jovial “Happy”, originally written for the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2that he achieves his greatest success. The song also appears in 2014 on the album Girl which is accompanied by an exhibition at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris, celebrating feminine beauty in all its forms through fashion and contemporary art.

It was from 2017 that Pharrell Williams truly immersed himself in the world of luxury. With the music business in free fall in the streaming era, he is one of the many singers and rappers who have the good idea to diversify their activities, like Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna. After creating a pair of sneakers in collaboration with Chanel and Adidas, he launched Humanrace, a gender-neutral cosmetics brand based on vegan ingredients.

Three years later, LVMH turned to him to succeed Virgil Abloh, the popular men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton, who died at the age of 41 following a cancer against which he was secretly fighting. Not only were the two men friends. But he shared the same vision of luxury, a bit of bling-bling around the edges, inclusive and above all resolutely positive. Because unlike Kanye West who has multiplied the slip-ups to the point of no return, Pharrell Williams is a joy of communication for a group listed on the CAC40.

A humanist who acts to put culture at the service of peace and the youth of the world

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay

Most of the time away from the cameras, this son of a handler and a teacher from Virginia devotes part of his time and his fortune to philanthropic activities. In 2008, he created YELLOW, an NGO dedicated to educating marginalized communities. He is also an activist within Black Ambition, an incubator for black and Latino entrepreneurs in the tech, design, health and consumer products sectors.

It is for this reason that he has just been appointed UNESCO goodwill ambassador for the arts, education and entrepreneurship, during a ceremony at the organization’s headquarters in Paris this Tuesday. For Audrey Azoulay, its general director, Pharrell Williams is a “complete artist“and a”humanist who acts to put culture at the service of peace and the youth of the world“. Who says better?

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In Vuitton from head to toe, the artist who celebrated his 51st birthday this year said to himself:honored to have been chosen“by Unesco and”be able to continue this work” within it. The opportunity to screen his biopic Piece by Piece for some 800 schoolchildren and students. Directed by Morgan Neville, it was designed with Lego bricks. Crazy? No way ! In partnership with the toy giant, Pharrell has launched a campaign to raise awareness of synesthesia, a neurological disorder from which he has suffered since childhood.

“It’s that instead of being distinguished, your senses remain confused“, he explained in “C à vous” at the beginning of November.I hear sounds and I see colors at the same time, but there are people who see colors and feel things. For example, purple will taste like rust, which gives off weird smells. It’s still something we endure!“. Between 4 and 5% of the world’s population are affected, in various forms.