There is no doubt that the past 12 or so months has been a Pharrell Williams year. Here is the Dorian Gray of hip hop (look it up – the story of he who does not age) pictured below in 1985 1995 2005 well sometime in the last 30 years.

First there was the set up with Robin “I am a got a big c##k” Thicke and the test of patience that is Blurred Lines, complete with gold tracksuit. It started well in a sub-Marvin lovefest but a million drunk housewives can spoil any tune. As can lyrical awareness once we’d stopped loving the “Got to Give It Up” good groove.

And then the sucker punch with his part in “Get Lucky” about which there is little wrong to be said but, hey, it’s Daft Punk so how could there be?!

Then came the despicably catchy Happy which rolled the world before it, was #1 for weeks and made us all scream laugh out loud. It even helped sell a few copies of the otherwise totally average long player GIRL. But there was no getting around the fact that it was only half way finished (more a loop than a song) and that our main man (TM: the coolest man in the world) had agreed to be on the soundtrack to a sequel movie. Aaaagh, the pain of it. Billionaire Boys Club was fading to a distant memory.

And now into a production hat with a mixed bag including Kylie’s “I was Gonna Cancel” and the funky disco magic to Ed Sheeran’s #1 SING. It’s a big hat as we all know now and PW has the head to fill it.

But, and it’s a BIG but, is it just us, but does every new step that Pharrell takes seem a mile from the energy and excitement that we cared about with the Neptunes and N.E.R.D.
 

This probably didn’t make him rich but shit it’s everything we should care about -
 

Like an adrenalin shot to the heart. And, whilst at the time I remember not being quite sure this on is now a banger I love to go back to. Like THE most perfect LA tune. Like evah. Even down to it’s P-Funk tasting name -
 

And if those two don’t have you buzzing just remember this one for the James Brown of rap, Mystikal… unfortunately the official video below replaced ass with fast and dick with mic :(
 

and this bad boy for Kelis which actually sounds like the bomb dropping in your headphones -
 

Maybe it needs a twitter campaign – can we have our Pharrell back? The COOL one please.