Pharrell Williams has told a jury that he was trying to evoke the feel of Marvin Gaye’s music – but that he did not copy the late singer’s work when he crafted Blurred Lines.
The Happy singer said he grew up listening to Gaye’s music and was familiar with his song Got To Give It Up.
But he said that he did not use it as a basis for Blurred Lines, his hit with collaborators Robin Thicke and T.I.
“He’s one of the ones we look up to,” Pharrell said. “This is the last place I want to be.”
Pharrell, Thicke and T.I. are being sued by Gaye’s children who claim Blurred Lines infringes their father’s copyrights for 1977′s Got To Give It Up.
Pharrell wrote the song’s music and most of its lyrics and although Thicke received a songwriting credit, he acknowledged earlier in the court case that he didn’t do much work on the song.
T.I.’s rap track was added later, and Pharrell said he wasn’t involved in its inclusion in Blurred Lines.
The chart star spent more than an hour describing his musical process and he how he crafted Blurred Lines in mid-2012 in between working on tracks with Miley Cyrus and rapper Earl Sweatshirt.
Thicke arrived after the music and lyrics had been written, he said.
Blurred Lines, a huge success in 2013, has earned more than 16 million dollars (£10.5 million) in profits and more than five million dollars (£3.3 million) apiece for the pair, according to testimony offered earlier in the trial.
Pharrell said after the song was released, he saw similarities between Blurred Lines and Gaye’s work but said that wasn’t a conscious part of his creative process.
Richard S Busch, who represents the Gaye family, asked Pharrell whether he felt Blurred Lines captured the feel of the era in which Gaye recorded.
“Feel,” he responded. “Not infringed.”
Thicke previously brought a bit of showmanship to a trial that has focused on minute details of chords and sheet music. He performed elements of Blurred Lines and hits by U2 and The Beatles to show how different songs can include similar-sounding musical elements.
Pharrell complained that audio comparisons of Blurred Lines and Got To Give It Up had been created in a way that made them sound similar.
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