You might know Pharrell Williams as the musician who crafted iconic tracks like “Happy,” “It’s Despicable,” or even the all-time great beat behind Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” However, before all of this, the star did have one regular job, even if it was promptly cut short.
Before his fame, Pharrell Williams worked at McDonald’s not just once or twice, but three times — before his last firing would mean his time at the Golden Arches was over for good. You might be wondering how someone gets fired from the same workplace three times, but the reason for the termination is something you can’t really blame him for.
The musician says that he was fired from McDonald’s for eating the nuggets. Yes, it was his snacking on some of those incredible golden delights (he’s only human), that resulted in his time with the company coming to an end. However, the musician’s hankering for a crispy nugget wasn’t the reason for all three of the times that he was fired.
“It got me in trouble,” Pharrell said during an interview with the BBC (per Entertainment Weekly). “I got fired three times. Not for the same thing. The first two times, it was just because I was lazy. The third time, it was just kind of like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? Why are you just sitting there eating nuggets? What are you doing?’”
“I found the sweet and sour sauce and the chicken nugget [to be] an alchemical combination. I was one of those kids, I just liked flavors. So I would have sweet and sour on one, and on the other one I would have ranch. And I’d just go back and forth.”
It’s safe to say that Pharrell’s mixing skills extend beyond just the studio, and a musician like him is probably the only person who would describe nuggets as an “alchemical combination.”
Given his failed career as a fry cook at the restaurant (don’t worry, he found success elsewhere), it’s ironic that the artist would eventually go on to work with the fast-food chain in the early 2000s. Pharrell and McDonald’s collaborated with Justin Timberlake to incorporate their iconic jingle “ba da ba ba ba” into his song “I’m Lovin’ It.”
This is just one of the gigantic career moments that Pharrell managed to achieve after his first job came to an end. While he says that he was lazy in the kitchen, it turns out he wasn’t lazy at all when it came to producing music.
Whether it’s his work as part of The Neptunes, N.E.R.D, his solo work under the name Pharrell, or the many soundtracks he has been involved with for hit films, he has done it all. Most recently the star released a biopic about his storied life, but unlike other predictable biographical music movies you would have seen (ahem, Bohemian Rhapsody), this one is completely told in the LEGO universe. Yeah, it’s as awesome as it sounds.
Piece by Piece, the movie about Pharrell’s life is now available to see in theaters in the United States, and it will be released internationally later in the year. Reviews for the film have been overwhelmingly positive both on the critic and audience fronts, with the movie landing Fresh Certification on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a Verified Hot stamp thanks to the positive moviegoer reactions. It seems this is not one to miss.
Published: Nov 10, 2024 09:38 pm