Pharrell Williams Surprise Drops New Album

Hip-hop and soul multidisciplinary Pharrell Williams turned 51 this past Friday, April 5th.

And to commemorate the occasion, the veteran producer quietly dropped a brand new album that’s available for free on the site BlackYachtRock.com. 

There are no liner notes or credits to the digital release, so it’s unclear who makes up the group Virginia that’s credited the LP, entitled Black Yacht Rock, Vol. 1: City of Limitless Access. But you can clearly recognize Williams’ unmistakable vocals across these 10 new songs, which sounds exactly like it’s cover art looks. It’s like if Pablo Cruise scored the soundtrack to Beat Street. 

Neither Williams nor Columbia Records have done anything to promote the album or even acknowledge its existence. But it did get some shouts on social media, namely from Tyler, the Creator on X/Twitter, who wrote “caged bird free by virginia black yacht rock, great song.” Longtime pal and collaborator Pusha T, meanwhile, shared the link to the new album on his Instagram stories.

Deeper snooping into this story, however, suggests the project might coincide with the untitled film project that Williams is working on with director Michel Gondry. It’s a coming-of-age story set in the summer of 1977 in Virgina Beach’s Atlantis Apartments, where Pharrell grew up. It stars Halle Bailey, Kelvin Harrison, Jr. and Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and will be released via Universal Pictures.

Williams released his last solo album, Girl, in March of 2014. 

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Ron Hart

Ron Hart is the Editor-in-Chief of Rock and Roll Globe. Reach him on X @MisterTribune.

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