Pharrell Williams’ Richard Mille: A Love Song to a $2 Million Watch That’s Pure Yacht Candy

To be honest, I needed to look up who or what Richard Mille is when writing this review. Was Pharrell Williams writing a song about a famous soul singer or important person in his life? Was Richard Mille a cool 70s soul singer that gave Pharrell the idea for his Black Yacht Rock project? Well, it’s actually a watch…a really cool looking watch that costs over $2 million Australian dollars. It seems that Pharrell is a huge fan…to the point that they make a limited edition Pharrell Williams watch. By the way, the price is listed as “price upon request,” which is code for “do you even make enough money to look at this website?”

Anyway, Pharrell has been big into songs about really expensive fashion lately. Such as his collab with Mumford and Sons for a Louis V event and his role within the Louis V company in general. Putting all the product placement aside, it is great to be getting some new Pharrell music…especially free music. That’s right. This song about a $2 million watch is totally free on his site Black Yacht Rock. Reminiscent of Radiohead’s In Rainbows release, this one is for the fans and is a welcome experiment from a very talented musician and producer.

All the marketing, distribution and funny watch jokes aside, this is a serious record with great production…so, let’s get into it. Having a record called Virginia: Black Yacht Rock Vol. 1 City of Limitless Action is a mouthful, but it also conjures up thoughts of the yacht rock genre. As a genre, yacht rock is more of a vibe full of smooth guitar and neon with images of leather loafers and collars popped on yellow pastel polo shirts. Well, Richard Mille does not disappoint with its cruisey acoustic guitar, poppy drum machine and Casio keyboard era hand claps. On the surface, this may seem gimmicky and cheesy, but when you are looking for yacht rock this is the vibe you are after. On that note, Pharrell delivers on all the beachy kicked back vibes you would want.

Lyrically and vocally this track delivers some true yacht rock fun. The thing about yacht rock is that it is the height of rock opulence…I mean it is an entire genre about music you listen to cruising on a yacht. Ultra neon infused vocal effects, echos on the chorus and fun vocal filters are a joy to listen to. Moreover, Pharrell singing about bags of cocaine, exhorting money from some schmo with the cops after him and ordering pizza is the fun I am after with this project. Sure, it’s not the deepest and most socially active lyrics in the world, but we have that intellectual work from Pharrell on amazing tracks with Run the Jewels and others. So, it is great to have him embrace the popcorn blockbuster quality of yacht rock.

Above all else, yacht rock is a vibe. Pharrell delivers on the fun and over the top quality of yacht rock on his new Black Yacht Rock project. Now, I don’t want Pharrell to lean into yacht rock for the rest of his career, but it is interesting to hear him let loose on such a fun genre. Plus, it’s free! So, go have a listen to some fun new music from an amazing artist.

Listen to Richard Mille