Pharrell Williams rides a slick bass line through “Double Life,” his latest contribution to the musical universe of the Despicable Me franchise. The record appears on the soundtrack for Despicable Me 4, out July 3. The first time the musician teamed up with the animated film franchise was a decade ago, when “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 became one of the most inescapable pop tunes in recent memory. He also landed five songs on the Despicable Me 3 soundtrack.
“Double Life” is less sunny than “Happy,” with a bit of a menacing and existential edge.
“I know you heard the rumors/You must get over to it right away/If anyone can do it, you gotta get there soon, it’s not okay/You got cars to drive, plenty jets to fly/When will you arrive? You’re running out of time/Don’t you see that everything is on the line?” Pharrell asks on the bridge. “So I’m sorry, but you have to choose a side/You’ll never know when it’s your time to go/And where you end up in life, that’s sold/You can’t ignore, you’re spending your life/Your watch is broken ’cause you spent all your time/It’s now or never unless everything’s right/Before the spinning stops, you must pick a side.”
The song concludes with a chant that asks: “Who will you be tonight?” It then promptly switches to the real question we need to get to the bottom of: “Who will Gru be tonight?”
Lately, Pharrell has been thinking a lot about who is he more generally, but still in an animated context. In January, the musician revealed that his life story would be turned into a Lego movie, Piece by Piece, out Oct. 11. “I’m honored to share this with the world and bring people into my universe. Building with Lego bricks encourages us to follow our imagination,” he shared in a statement at the time. “Who would’ve thought that playing with these toys as a kid would evolve into a movie about my life. It’s proof that anyone else can do it too.”
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