Last year Robin Thicke found himself embroiled in a lawsuit with Marvin Gaye's children, when he was first targeted by Gaye's family over the similarities between his hit single "Blurred Lines" and Marvin Gaye's musical compositions, namely, "Got To Give It Up." Thicke, alongside "Blurred Lines" co-writers T.I. and Pharrell "reluctantly" sued Gaye's family following the accusations, in an effort to clear their names.
Now the transcripts from the legal proceedings surrounding this lawsuit have been unsealed, and it brings to light that Thicke was both high and drunk during the creation of "Blurred Lines." Hollywood Reporter has obtained the deposition transcriptions, which reveal some strange behavior on Thicke's part. In the sworn testimony, Thicke admits that he was high and/or drunk during almost every interview he did last year, and that he was jealous of Pharrell for creating the smash hit "Blurred Lines," and so he previously tried to take more credit than what was due.
In a previous interview with GQ, the singer said that the song came about because of his love for Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up." He told GQ, "Pharrell and I were in the studio and I told him that one of my favorite songs of all time was Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give It Up.' I was like, 'Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove.' Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about a half hour and recorded it."
However, according to his testimony, that's not actually how it went down:
Q: Were you present during the creation of 'Blurred Lines'?
Thicke: I was present. Obviously, I sang it. I had to be there.
Q: When the rhythm track was being created, were you there with Pharrell?
Thicke: To be honest, that's the only part where — I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted — I — I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit. So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I — because I didn't want him — I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song."
When asked about doling out the allegedly fake version of events to other publications, Thicke said he did it because he "thought it would help sell records." At the same time, he said he couldn't be sure of anything he said to the media during that time because he "had a drug and alcohol problem for the year" and "didn't do a sober interview." He even admitted to be high on Norco ("which is like two Vicodin in one pill," he says) during his Oprah Winfrey interview with his young son, where he spoke about his admiration for Marvin Gaye.
Pharrell said some strange things through out his deposition as well. After saying that he could read music, he was asked to identify certain notes by the opposing lawyer, however, all he could answer with was "I'm not comfortable," refusing to read them. He also spoke on why he gave Thicke more credit (Thicke received a co-writing credit for the song, which affords him 18-22 percent of publishing royalties) that he deserved. "This is what happens every day in our industry," Pharrell said. "You know, people are made to look like they have much more authorship in the situation than they actually do. So that's where the embellishment comes in."
The Gaye family is set to take things to trial on February 10, 2015. We'll update you as the legal battles unfold.
