Pharrell's new album G I R L is currently available to stream, it doesn't officially arrive until March 3rd. The rapper is on his promo grind, and he called into The Breakfast Club to address a criticism regarding his album artwork for G I R L: the fact that there are no noticeably black women on the cover.
When asked by Angela Yee about the lack of black women on the artwork, Pharrell responded, "What really disappointed me is that, man, they jumped the gun. Because the one I'm standing the closest to is black. She's a black girl from Wisconsin that I used to date like ten years ago, or twelve years ago. And that just must suck for people to just look at something and to assume that they know what's going on. And if they had just bothered to listen to my album, they'd know it's an ode to women, period."
Pharrell continued, "The one thing I was trying to help and aid and change is this crazy statuesque standard of: you gotta be white, waif and thin for you to be beautiful. You know my next record is called "Marilyn Manroe" and the chorus is, 'Not even Marilyn Monroe, Cleopatra, see. Not even Joan of Arc, that don’t mean nothing to me. I just want a different girl.'"
"My mom is a black woman that is a huge part of my business, my business is run by another black woman and I'm married to a black woman, what are you talking about?" Pharrell asked in response to the blacklash of his artwork.
This 6-minute conversation is part of a larger one with Pharrell and The Breakfast Club, so stay tuned for the full audio tomorrow.
