Pharrell revealed the story behind the first time he met Michael Jackson in a preview of OTHERtone, his Beats 1 show with Scott Verner and it’s uncomfortably interesting.
“I met him two times,” Williams says. “He comes in, he’s tall, standing there, two beautiful women walk in, he kisses one. It’s a moment!” Williams explains. “It ain’t like no peck, it’s a situation. [The women] look Brazilian, and I’m like, ‘Wow!’ He’s the king of catching you off guard.”
After that rather harsh introduction to Michael Jackson, Pharrell says Michael Jackson turned down the songs that he had brought for him.
“I don’t think he realized that I was going to give those songs to Justin [Timberlake],” Williams added, which eventually led to his second interaction with MJ.
“So I’m in the studio with Justin, and they say, ‘Got a call for you on line 1, it’s Michael Jackson,'” he says. “So I’m thinking it’s one of my friends trying to be funny. And I heard someone eating popcorn in my ear, that’s how I know that it’s him. He’s the king of control, I think he invented it! He’s like, ‘Hey, okay, you working with Justin? Ah that’s really nice, okay cool, well you guys have a great session, tell Justin I said hello. And Justin was like, ‘Who was that? Michael? Yeah he does that.'”
Listen to Williams recount the memorable interactions here.
