Pharrell Williams has released an upbeat new song, “Piece by Piece.” The track features the Princess Anne High School Fabulous Marching Cavaliers and will appear in Morgan Neville’s animated biopic Piece by Piece, in theaters Oct. 11.
The film, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, tells the story of Williams’ life and musical career using Lego bricks. It features the voice of Williams alongside those of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, and Snoop Dogg.
“What we made is not like any other movie,” Williams told Variety when the trailer debuted. “I don’t know what a comp for it would be. People can try and label it. It’s just its own film. It’s mind-blowing, in a way, the freedom that we were able to put together in the film, but that only works if you’re channeling your subject.”
Williams confirmed he collaborated with the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo on several tracks for the film. “There are two new compositions,” he told Variety. “One is made for a specific scene. And the other one is made for a specific scene but tells the story; it’s like my thesis — [which is] that God is the greatest, that awareness, just understanding that that’s the story. The rest of the music is music that Chad [Hugo] and I made together and songs also that I made by myself, and that we produced and wrote for other people. It’s one big fun musical documentary biopic.”
Piece by Piece will play at the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival before hitting theaters in October. No details have been announced on the soundtrack.
Williams has also been working with filmmaker Michel Gondry on a coming-of-age musical film, Atlantis, which will be released May 9, 2025. The Universal Pictures film is set to feature a massive, star-studded cast that includes Halle Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Missy Elliott, Anderson .Paak, Janelle Monáe, Tim Meadows, Jayson Brian Tyree Henry, Jaboukie Young-White, and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
In the past, Pharrell has joined films like 2018’s The Grinch as its narrator, all of the Despicable Me films as a composer, and 2016’s Hidden Figures as a producer.
