Pharrell Reunites With N.E.R.D. for ‘Squeeze Me’
Pharrell Williams has reunited with his fellow N.E.R.D. members Chad Hugo and Shay Haley for “Squeeze Me,” the Neptunes offshoot’s first new song in four years. The bouncy track will feature on the upcoming soundtrack for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. While the trio briefly reunited in concert in November, “Squeeze Me” marks N.E.R.D.‘s first recording together since they released their fourth LP Nothing in 2010.
The “Squeeze Me” single will officially be released January 5th. Given the G-rated nature of its target audience, the tropical-flavored “Squeeze Me” is closer in sound and vibe to Pharrell‘s Grammy-nominated Despicable Me 2 solo hit “Happy” than N.E.R.D.’s raunchy singles like “Lapdance.”
“We’re trying not to think too much in a cartoon sense, but more just like a psychedelic, otherworldy type of thing,” N.E.R.D.’s Hugo told Variety of their work for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water soundtrack. “If you want to draw a parallel, maybe think of what the Beatles did with Yellow Submarine.”
While Pharrell has kept busy working on everything from Beyoncé to “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines” to Gwen Stefani’s upcoming solo LP – not to mention serving as a coach on The Voice – the producer is still making efforts to keep his In Search Of… crew alive. During Pharrell’s all-star set at the Odd Future’s Camp Flog Gnaw Festival in November, Williams brought out Hugo and Haley to join him for the trio’s 2002 single “Rock Star.”
“There will always be an N.E.R.D.,” Pharrell said during a London concert in September. “I’m happy to be a nerd; the bullies lost, the nerds win.”