Happy birthday, Pharrell: 5 of the most influential moments by music's ageless wonder

Pharrell's latest solo album, GIRL, dropped all the way back in March 2014, but the Virginia Beach native has been far from silent. His fingerprints were all over Ariana Grande's Grammy-winning 2018 album Sweetener. That's just one example speaking to his continued omnipresence. 

Believing that music's ageless wonder is closing in on 50 is almost as difficult as condensing his impact on music and pop culture at large into one listicle. He served as a coach on NBC's The Voice for four seasons, and he put Maggie Rogers on the map with a now-viral masterclass at NYU's Clive Davis Institute. He immortalized big hats, and he continues to design in-demand pieces through his partnership with Adidas.

Someone has to (try and) do it, though, and the only way is to narrow the field. Below are five of Pharrell's most influential moments throughout his nearly 30-year musical career.

The Neptunes

Pharrell and childhood friend Chad Hugo formed songwriting duo The Neptunes in the early 1990s, with their big break coming when Teddy Riley signed them in 1992. Toward the end of the '90s and into the 2000s, The Neptunes were a force to be reckoned with—penning hit after hit for the likes of Britney Spears, JAY-Z, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, and more. How could we ever forget Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl"? Their legacy was officially cemented as inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame last year.

N*E*R*D

The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. go hand-in-hand. Hugo and Pharrell formed the hip-hop/rock group alongside another childhood friend, Shae Haley, as a Neptunes side project in 1999. N.E.R.D.—standing for No One Ever Really Dies—quickly became a revolutionary movement, as side projects always do. Their debut album In Search Of... came in August 2001, but 2008's Seeing Sounds is where they truly make their mark.

N.E.R.D. isn't a relic, though. They broke a seven-year hiatus with their fifth studio album No_One Ever Really Dies (2017), and the same year brought a collaborative "Lemon" with Rihanna, which became their first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

In My Mind

The 13-time Grammy winner embraced Skateboard P and stepped out on his own by releasing his debut solo album In My Mind to the world in July 2006. The 17-track project brought his fruitful musical relationships with Gwen Stefani, JAY-Z, Kanye West, Nelly and Snoop Dogg (hello, "Beautiful") full circle. The album also peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. 

In My Mind was nominated for best rap album at the 49th Grammy Awards, and while it lost out to Ludacris's Release Therapy, Pharrell still got a taste of glory by winning best rap song for Ludacris's "Money Maker," which he co-wrote and contributed featured vocals. 

Pharrell didn't release a sophomore solo studio album until eight years later with GIRL, but as with the rest of his unrivaled discography, he made it count—as it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

"Get Lucky"

Before GIRL entered the conversation, pop culture was completely submerged in Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" featuring Pharrell and Nile Rodgers. The dance-pop was not just the song of summer 2013 but a landmark in music history. 

"Get Lucky" won best pop duo/group performance and record of the year at the 56th Grammy Awards, where Pharrell was nominated seven times overall. He additionally won for his hand in Daft Punk's Random Access Memories album and under the producer of the year, non-classical category. 

His nominations for Robin Thicke's controversial "Blurred Lines" (record of the year, best pop/group performance—yes, he beat out himself in those categories) should be noted. That single, also featuring T.I., was just as ubiquitous in 2013 as "Get Lucky"—peaking at No. 1 and charting for 48 weeks on the Hot 100—before the intense blowback became even more overwhelming. Pharrell opened up about the "chauvinistic" song and how he grew from it for the November 2019 cover of GQ.

"Happy"

There's a very strong argument to be made that Despicable Me 2 soundtrack staple "Happy" is the most influential solo work by Pharrell in the mainstream. It quickly became an afterthought that he originally wrote, produced and performed the song for the Despicable Me franchise. It was the best-selling single of 2014, peaking at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in March of '14, and Pharrell had no choice but to make it the lead single of GIRL. 

The crossover effect was completed when Pharrell (in one of his big hats) cried while discussing "Happy" with Oprah: 

"Happy (Live)" claimed best pop solo performance, while the song's inescapable music video earned best music video, at the 57th Grammy Awards.