Williams and Hugo are also known as the Grammy-winning production duo The Neptunes.
N*E*R*D's sound is a blend of rock, hip-hop, and R&B. N*E*R*D stands for "No-one Ever Really Dies".
Williams and Hugo originally recorded the band's debut album, In Search Of..., for European release in 2001 using similar digital production techniques used on Neptunes-produced records. However, they decided that if N*E*R*D was to be different from The Neptunes, it should sound different. This led to them re-recording the album (still titled In Search Of...) with the power pop band Spymob for worldwide release in 2002.
In Search Of... achieved moderate success in the United States.: the album reached number 59 on the Billboard 200; its first single, Lapdance, reached the top 40 on the rap charts; and its second single, Rock Star, reached the top 40 of the modern rock charts in the US and is still incredibly popular today. "Lapdance" also went top 40 in the Netherlands and its music video received heavy airplay on American MTV2. The album was well-received by critics even though it was not as successful as many of the Neptunes' productions for other artists.
The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, awarded (by a group of musicians, journalists, and other music professionals) for Best Album that had sold less than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. The band performed at the show, bragging that the week prior to the ceremony, the album had, in fact, achieved gold status by selling over 500,000 units.
Fly or Die
The band recorded their second album Fly or Die during 2003. The band actually learned to play the tunes live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. "I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. [Last time] we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."
The band also recruited some assistance to record the album with Lenny Kravitz playing on the track Maybe (which has been featured in ads for XM Satellite Radio) and Joel Madden and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte playing on the track Jump. Several of the tracks discuss issues of particular concern to adolescents, for example Thrasher, which is about bullies; Drill Sergeant, about rebellion; and Backseat Love, which talks about first love.
Fly or Die went on sale on March 22, 2004. The album went top 10 in the USA, while the lead-off single, She Wants to Move, went top 5 in the UK, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 30 in Australia and top 40 in the USA and the Netherlands. The music videos for "She Wants To Move" and its followup single, "Maybe", received strong support from music video stations globally.
In 2005, N.E.R.D ended their contract with Virgin Records. After becoming "hooked" on the energy from their fans, the band began recording their third studio album, spending their own money. Williams and Hugo later established Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records.
Seeing Sounds
The third album from N*E*R*D is called Seeing Sounds. The album's title, as well as its content, revolves around the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia, the mixing of sensory modalities. After touring in promotion of their previous album, Fly or Die, N.E.R.D felt that album was too consistent. For their following album, they wanted to create the atmosphere of hyperactivity they knew their fans wanted.
The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 80,000 in its first week. It received mixed reviews, with critics lauding the production of the album. Some writers called the record N.E.R.D's best album to date, while others criticized Williams' singing and the album's content.
The album was released on June 10, 2008. The first single off the album, titled "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" featured a video with fans as well as stars like Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West. In June 2008, the second single off the album, titled "Spaz", was used in a TV commercial for the Microsoft Zune. The third single "Sooner or Later" featured a video dedicated to America's economic crisis.
Nothing
In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Nothing, which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, was released on May 18, 2010, on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010. On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U" on Late Show with David Letterman, produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk. On September 30, 2010, in an interview with Mark Hoppus on A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, Pharrell explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on'". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U". Pharrell described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album", stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. Nothing debuted at number twenty one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 20,000 copies.
The albums concept was to create a time capsule about America's divisions, "so that ten years from now people remember that era." Sonically the album was inspired by the late 60's and early 70's psychedelic pop.
Pharrell explained: "I just wanted to make some good music that would affect people in a good way." Williams says it wasn't easy. N*E*R*D worked on "a previous body of work which was really good, but it wasn't timeless to me. I didn't feel like we were pushing ourselves as much as we could. We needed to perfect the sound, so we kept pushing the date back until it was right." The result includes "a lot of vintage sounds...The album is very '68-'72, '73, America meets Crosby, Stills & Nash meets Moody Blues."
Nothing received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES
In 2013, Pharrell confirmed a N.E.R.D album was in progress, but also mentioned that the album would not be released that year due to the projects he was working on with other artists. He has also said the album will be "nature-based". The group reunited on December 26, 2014, to release the songs "Squeeze Me," "Patrick Star," and "Sandy Squirrel" for the film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
On February 6, 2017, during an interview with BBC Radio 1, Pharrell stated that "it's feeling really good, really special" about the group's return.
In October 2017, the album was teased after posters were popping up on the side of streets, and by concertgoers at the 2017 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.
It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna, "1000" with Future, and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar.
The album was debuted with a live listening party during the first day at ComplexCon, thus revealing the tracklist. Pharrell revealed the album's cover art and release date via Instagram and Twitter on November 22, 2017.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES was released on December 15, 2017 through I Am Other and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, Andrรฉ 3000, Kendrick Lamar, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, Future and Ed Sheeran among others. The album presented a radical change in sound compared to Nothing, heavily influenced by 80's New Wave and Post-Punk.
โMr. Williams had been listening to the nervy jangle of post-punk and avant-punk: Gang of Four, Suicide, Devo, Talking Heads,โ the Times reported in a December profile. โOnce I identified all my pieces,โ Williams said, โI was like, โYo, I donโt want to make any more linear songs.โโโ N.E.R.Dโs fifth album, โNO ONE EVER REALLY DIES,โ released in December, delights in the aimless, anything-plays spirit of post-punk and New Waveโan era that Pharrell, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley watched firsthand as students of nineteen-eighties MTV."
To make sense of โNO ONE EVER REALLY DIES,โ it helps to spend time with the cartoonish yelps of Devoโs Mark Mothersbaugh on โUncontrollable Urgeโ or David Byrne on โLife During Wartime.โ Those front men both shout-sing somewhere higher than mid-range; Byrne has mentioned that, on โOnce in a Lifetime,โ he evoked the quivering timbre of a southern evangelical preacher whom heโd taped off of local radio. Fans are used to Pharrellโs many voices: the falsetto made famous on โFrontinโ,โ the breezy and conversational way that he rapped on โMr. Me Too,โ even the showman croon on โHappy.โ But this latest voice, on such tracks as โRollinem 7โsโ and โESP,โ searches for a slightly goofball tone that offsets stone-serious messages, like โWhat possessed the slave to look in the river / Then he saw his true master, fuck is a โmisterโ?โ and โDetach yourself, repack yourself / Be back yourself, and dream as yourself.โ Many music fans winced at the sight of the new albumโs credits, worried that its several guest slots meant a muddy, scattered N.E.R.D. project, but the most unexpected voice on it belongs to Pharrell, who finds new angles for his instrument almost fifteen years in.
This shape-shifting extends to the albumโs production, an unrelenting tangle of stuttering rhythms, tempo changes, bridges, and every other misdirection the band can jam in. โLemon,โ the opening track, is the most generous to pop form, and โDeep Down Body Thurstโ takes traditional N.E.R.D. piano chords and lays them under new, challenging shapes. You can hear shades of the songโs stomping guitar in the English Beatโs โMirror in the Bathroom,โ itself a mutation of the ska sound that took hold in the U.K. โDonโt Donโt Do It!โ pushes through its hook in the same fashion: while the verses are smooth and bluesy, the chorus bursts open in three steamy riffs. (โDonโt, donโt do it!โ โTheyโre gonna do it anyway!โ โThey. Are. Go-nna. Do. It anyway!โ) โKitesโ is just as sprawling, bobbing between a double-time punk stomp and trunk-melting trap as Kendrick Lamar and M.I.A. vent about flying over borders and walls on both ends of the beat.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES received positive reviews from music critics.
Time For Some Action
N*E*R*D Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
riding bikes, it was the 80's, record heat waves,
I mean people were like dying on the side of the road getting heat stokes,
only thing you could do,
was go in the house and you know take a shower couple times a day,
so....i'll never forget i was like 7 years old,
I closed my eyes and thats when it started,
I started seeing sounds.....woah
Chorus:
Time 4 some action(x4)
Yea there she is right there
I like it, excuse me, hey
Yeah u know the scenario
Images circle ur mind like a merry go
If u just tune that into ur stereo
Turn this bitch up here we go
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (4x)
I'm more like a vulture
Far from a dove
Don't u mistake this ma this is not love
It's lust
No cuddles and hugs
This is for floor and rugs
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (4x)
Yo the sweat on ur body
It creates a sink
No liquor no pills only that's gets me bent
I'm loving your clothes especially the prints
Get it, the prints
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (4x)
Hey, you aint know I was a nasty guy
U say u wanna flash me right
U know only I could smash u right
Well alright
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (4x)
It's time 4 some action(uh oh)
What can u imagine(uh oh)
Its time 4 some action(uh oh)
What can u imagine(uh oh)
Whoa (12x)
I see whats going on
i been sitting all along waiting away, n im so tired
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (2x)
I aint got nothing to say,
nothing to do, but I been waiting for so long, and I think..I think..
I think im thru
Chorus:
Time 4 some action (4x)
The opening lines of N*E*R*Dโs โTime for Some Actionโ have Pharrell Williams reminiscing about his childhood in the eighties. He talks about how people were dying of heat strokes in the record-setting heat waves of the time, and the only respite was to take frequent showers. He then talks about a moment that is etched in his memory, when he could visualize sounds at the age of seven.
The chorus of the song is โTime 4 some actionโ and it is repeated four times each in various parts throughout the song. This line is a call to action to the listeners to start doing something. The song moves on to discuss lust and the physicality of relationships rather than love and affection. Pharrell Williams compares himself to a vulture and says that his intentions are far from pure love. He talks about his attraction to the clothes that his partner is wearing and the prints on them.
Throughout the song, the lyrics complement the driving beat and the heavy basslines. The song is more of a party anthem than a deep meaningful composition, meant to get the listener up and dancing.
Line by Line Meaning
You kno when I was a kid growing up, we used to love playing outside,
When I was young, we spent most of our time outdoors and had fun with it.
riding bikes, it was the 80's, record heat waves,
We rode bikes in the 80's despite the extreme heat waves.
I mean people were like dying on the side of the road getting heat stokes,
People suffered from heat exhaustion on the road and some even died.
only thing you could do, was go in the house and you know take a shower couple times a day,
The only solution to beat the heat was to stay indoors and take multiple showers.
so....i'll never forget i was like 7 years old,
As a seven-year-old, there's one particular moment that stands out in my memory.
I closed my eyes and thats when it started,
It all began when I shut my eyes.
I started seeing sounds.....woah
I got a unique sensation of seeing sounds which has never left me.
Yea there she is right there
Here goes the one I've been looking for.
I like it, excuse me, hey
I'm interested in her, can I talk to her?
Yeah u know the scenario
You already know how this goes.
Images circle ur mind like a merry go
Your imagination is running wild, like a carousel.
If u just tune that into ur stereo
If you pay attention, this thing will sound even better.
Turn this bitch up here we go
Let's play this music louder and start partying.
I'm more like a vulture
I'm a predator looking for a prey.
Far from a dove
I'm nothing like a peaceful dove.
Don't u mistake this ma this is not love
Don't get it twisted, what we have here is not love.
It's lust
This is just raw, unadulterated lust.
No cuddles and hugs
This is physical and has nothing to do with lovey-dovey stuff.
This is for floor and rugs
This is an invitation for us to get down and dirty, literally.
Yo the sweat on ur body
I'm turned on by the sweat on your body.
It creates a sink
It makes me thirsty for you.
No liquor no pills only that's gets me bent
I don't need any drugs or alcohol; you turn me on enough by yourself.
I'm loving your clothes especially the prints
I'm admiring your outfit, particularly the patterns on them.
Get it, the prints
It's all about the prints, you know what I mean?
Hey, you aint know I was a nasty guy
You might not have known this about me before, but I can be pretty vulgar.
U say u wanna flash me right
You mentioned something about wanting to show me something provocative, didn't you?
U know only I could smash u right
You should know that only I can fulfill your sexual desires.
It's time 4 some action(uh oh)
It's time to get things started in this party.
What can u imagine(uh oh)
There's no limit to what we can do next.
I see whats going on
I understand what's happening right now.
i been sitting all along waiting away, n im so tired
I've been waiting here for a while and I'm starting to feel exhausted.
I aint got nothing to say,
I'm out of things to say.
nothing to do, but I been waiting for so long, and I think..I think..I think im thru
I've been waiting here for so long and now I'm finally done with this party.
Lyrics ยฉ Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RANDY FITZSIMMONS, PHARRELL WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bran M
[Verse 1: Pharrell Williams]
Yeah, so much sound like dirt today
Turn on the radio and it make you thirst away
Like a dumb bitch lookin' for nerds today
Or like good food, dig in your purse to pay
Sometimes, it make me so sad like the worst of days
This industry makin' cash where the Earth decay
Then I seen a little black boy with a shirt that say
"Don't you miss the fucking classics like Purple Rain?" Uh
You need somethin' to cool you off
Man, my beat like a bitch because you in your car
It shine bright like the night and the Moon and the stars
Then I wake up and make mo' by noon tomorrow
Now the critics says, "Will we be dumbing it down?"
Says N*E*R*D is back coming around
Well, sit and watch who you summon the sound
If I catch you when I see you, I'm gunnin' it down, because (Yeah)
[Chorus: Pharrell]
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master! (Come on)
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (Yeah, the lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master!
[Verse 2: Shay Haley]
What did you expect? It's the reemergence
Loosen your neck, shorty, get to jerkin'
You rockin' with the best, and that's for certain
It's almost like your ears are now virgin
Ready fresh, wet for insertion
It's like your first time with insurgen
Except you're screwed, you're locked, you're sippin' syrup-n
Now mami, close your eyes like curtains
Look who coolin' it now
We be tearin' down show for the Moon tomorrow
Stay in the future, what you think? They can rule tomorrow?
That's like Larry Bird came and just schooled Jabaar
You should be happy, that should be news to y'all
Like a little boy hearin' no school tomorrow
That's the point, ain't no beatin' or runnin' around
Violate me when I see you, I'm gunnin' it down (Yo)
[Chorus: Pharrell]
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master! (Come on)
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (Yeah, the lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master! (One more time, come on!)
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
I am the lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master! (Come on)
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (Yeah, the lazer gun carryin')
I am the lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master!
[Verse 3: Pharrell]
I am a product of flex, a product of clue (Clue)
A product of Interscope, a product of you (You)
A product of my parents, my little brothers too (Too)
A product of cam, a product of ganoo (Cam, 'noo)
So the beat gotta be like stealth in dark
I mean, the beat gotta knock your helmet off
Knock you crab ass niggas who's shells is soft
Show you're pussy and you only do well in talk
I kill pussy, kill beats, kill-real word
I can't decide, am I Lucas or Spielberg?
They pay a night to see me, a night to TV
'Cause I'm bright like the finger that lights on E.T (Bling)
In a flash, a sonny went down
Didn't want to see it but you confrontin' it now
Draw your mind in the sand 'til you done in the ground
And if a nigga step across me, I'm gunnin' it down, and tell 'em
[Chorus: Pharrell]
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master! (Come on)
I am the lazer gun carryin' (The lazer gun carryin')
The lazer gun carryin' (Yeah, yhe lazer gun carryin')
I am the lazer gun carryin'
Milky Way master!
Sangkyun Cho
One of the most underrated beats of all time
PW
One of the best Pharrell verses of all time.
'Bright like the finger that lights on ET' ๐ฅ
Trader Joe Schmo
I donโt know why I could only find this masterpiece on YouTube not even a bounds track anymore
yungbriskgod
why did they only release this as a bonus track in Japan? i need this on streaming.
Leapold stoch
Ong
Vesoria
I have seeing sounds us vinyl and it has this Song on it
# StreamLauncher by MyManErik
@Vesoria Yeah it was on the vinyl and on the original Japanese release...CLASSIC...
A.S.N.K.A
i got the cd European version and this song is on it.
D Foster
Yeah. I have the Japanese CD somewhere. But, the point is, steaming thoughโฆ
Willie McMichael
2022 chiming in and I need this streaming ASAP!!!