Pharrell told cleveland.com that the new album is titled Seeing Sounds and not N¤3¤R¤D. With it’s unusual hook — a shout-out to “all the girls standing in line for the bathroom” — you can’t miss “Everybody Nose,” the slamming new single by N¤E¤R¤D. “We like to color the airwaves with something a little different,” vocalist Pharrell Williams said during a phone interview last week from New York City, where he was in the middle of a media blitz. “Too often, you hear songs about the same things, over and over again,” he said.
Rounding out N¤E¤R¤D’s core lineup are Chad Hugo and Shay Haley. The funky rock ‘n’ roll group headlines a gig at Cleveland’s House of Blues. Above a rubbery bass line, N¤E¤R¤D’s “Everybody Nose” delivers a commentary on America’s insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip. “The song is basically about a guy and what he witnesses in this girl’s behavior,” said Williams, “When the music slows down, he’s trying to calm her down. He says, I won’t blow your high, talking about your life.’ “It’s not a preachy song. We’re not pointing fingers. We’re just saying, Pay attention, America — this is what’s happening now.’ “
The song is slated N¤E¤R¤D’s third album, tentatively titled “Seeing Sounds.” It won’t be in stores until June, but the band was eager to hit the road now. “We just want to get back to our fans and become acclimated with the feeling of the songs onstage, to master them,” Williams said. “The first two albums [2002’s “In Search Of . . ” and 2004’s “Fly Or Die“], we made them because they were fun. With this album, we had a purpose, and from being inspired by that purpose came all the fun. “The goal was to be energetic and to be emotional — if not both on each song, then at least one of the two.”
Like Phil Spector’s celebrated “Wall of Sound,” The Neptunes have their own distinctive (albeit less bombastic) sonic signature, complete with taut electronic beats, slinky synthesizers and occasional bursts of horns seemingly lifted from an old Earth, Wind and Fire record. So how do Williams and Hugo know if any given song is better suited to N¤E¤R¤D or a Neptunes project? “A jeweler never gives away his best diamond,” Williams said. “And that best diamond may not be about the size or about the clarity. It just might be that special cut that fits you. “You just kind of know if something’s right for you.”
*cleveland.com