Band of the Month Meet cool bands and listen to their music — free — here.
Band of the Month: N.E.R.D.
"That was a first-class ticket to pissing me off," says Pharrell Williams playfully. He's taping a performance of material from the new N.E.R.D album, Fly or Die, with his band mates Chad Hugo and Shay Haley, and the director just asked him to perform "She Wants to Move" for the fifth time. "We've got to wrap this up. I've got $2 wine corks in my ears. Y'all may not know this about me, but I can't stand having corks in my ears," he says. Here's a few other things you didn't know about the producer turned pop star. Click here to listen to N.E.R.D's new singles "She Wants to Move" and "Maybe".
1) He Hates Being Called a Rock Star
Why? "Because I'm not. I'm really, really, really not," Williams says emphatically after the show. He's in his dressing room playing with all of the very rock star–like ice dangling around his neck. "People associate certain things with rock stars like being a druggie, having diva fits, and being really insecure. I'm not like that, so for my own sanity I'd rather not be called a rock star."
2) He's a High School Student at Heart
Pharrell didn't go to college (he was discovered while still in high school), so he often counts his days at Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach, VA, as his last dose of reality. And what was his experience like? "You know, you're in the library supposedly studying but you're looking for girls or writing love letters or you're in social studies looking at the film strip and laughing because someone is missing teeth in one of the pictures and telling you about geography or something like that. Or you're in science class dissecting a frog. Me, I had a weak stomach, so I was often gagging all the time. But that's who you are as a kid."
3) He'd Like to Do More Than Just Sit-Ups
Besides the 300 crunches he does every day, Williams doesn't get much time to exercise outside the recording studio. "I'd like to be more active in sports and things. I skateboard, but don't get to do it often enough."
4) A lot of His Songs Don't Become Hits
For every "Rock Your Body" and "Beautiful," there's about five or six Neptunes tracks that never make it to radio. "I did a song called 'I Still Love You' with this group 702, and thought that it would be a hit. It wasn't. Sometimes the record label just doesn't get it. I wrote another song for Ray J called 'Out the Ghetto.' Not many people heard it. I think that was one of the best songs I've ever written."
5) At the End of It All, He Wants to Be Remembered For...
"Getting a haircut. My bush is getting out of control," he says examining his head in the mirror. "I used to wear an afro about four years ago. Maybe I'll grow my hair back out again. What do you think?" he asks. We think he could wear a hot pink mohawk and still be a cutie.
Listen and watch N.E.R.D's new singles "She Wants to Move" and "Maybe" Audio:
She Wants to Move: Real | Windows Media
Maybe: Real | Windows Media
