I recently picked up Pharrell’s In My Mind, the much-hyped, long-delayed solo debut from Mr. Ubiquitous. One of the reasons why it took me so long to pick it up was because I couldn’t find anyone to actually recommend it and its hype seemed to vanish soon after it was released. I really only picked it up as an afterthought, and because I was curious enough to drop $13 for that curiosity to be satisfied.
I went into the album with low expectations and I was still disappointed. The album is complete crap. Despite its ambitions of being the “greatest album ever”, it can’t even muster “solid debut” or “notable effort.” This is a glorified vanity bomb on par with Battlefield Earth, or Garth Brooks’ “Chris Gaines” persona. Pharrell should thank his lucky stars that Aaron Cameron reviewed this disc rather than I, because I would have given it a 
. If Queens of the Stone Age hadn’t used it first I’d have suggested that this album be renamed Songs for the Deaf.
Still I can see where the album could have succeeded or at least earned some critical acclaim. If Skateboard P had used the cheesy/horrible ’80s vibe of “Young Girl” as a template for his whole album, one could have respected it as an homage to pop music’s ugliest decade. An album like that would have made a nice companion piece to the Killers’ debut. But Pharrell didn’t try to do that, and by being overly ambitious he failed miserably.
“Number One” is the musical equivalent of Ishtar. You’ve got two highly prolific, respected artists on the same project, yet it falls flat, horribly and spectacularly. If you listen hard enough you can actually hear all of Pharrell’s guests losing confidence in his prowess as a producer as they play their roles.
I’ve even got the instrumental version of the album and it still induces cringes, as I can still place the lyrics over the occasionally interesting beats.
This album is so bad that I’d almost feel sorry for Pharrell, except that he’s swimming, Scrooge McDuck style, in money, with naked models catering to his every need. Hell, they’re probably even telling him that his album was great.
