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Pierre Lapointe, Grand Duke Of Broken Souls

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Pharrell Williams Channels His Inner Gentleminion on ‘Despicable Me 4’ Soundtrack Cut ‘Double Life’

Pharrell Williams Channels His Inner Gentleminion on ‘Despicable Me 4’ Soundtrack Cut ‘Double Life’
Larisha Paul
By Larisha PaulJun 14, 2024
Larisha Paul
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Pharrell Williams rides a slick bass line through “Double Life,” his latest contribution to the musical universe of the Despicable Me franchise. The record appears on the soundtrack for Despicable Me 4, out July 3. The first time the musician teamed up with the animated film franchise was a decade ago, when “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 became one of the most inescapable pop tunes in recent memory. He also landed five songs on the Despicable Me 3 soundtrack.

“Double Life” is less sunny than “Happy,” with a bit of a menacing and existential edge.

“I know you heard the rumors/You must get over to it right away/If anyone can do it, you gotta get there soon, it’s not okay/You got cars to drive, plenty jets to fly/When will you arrive? You’re running out of time/Don’t you see that everything is on the line?” Pharrell asks on the bridge. “So I’m sorry, but you have to choose a side/You’ll never know when it’s your time to go/And where you end up in life, that’s sold/You can’t ignore, you’re spending your life/Your watch is broken ’cause you spent all your time/It’s now or never unless everything’s right/Before the spinning stops, you must pick a side.”

The song concludes with a chant that asks: “Who will you be tonight?” It then promptly switches to the real question we need to get to the bottom of: “Who will Gru be tonight?”

Lately, Pharrell has been thinking a lot about who is he more generally, but still in an animated context. In January, the musician revealed that his life story would be turned into a Lego movie, Piece by Piece, out Oct. 11. “I’m honored to share this with the world and bring people into my universe. Building with Lego bricks encourages us to follow our imagination,” he shared in a statement at the time. “Who would’ve thought that playing with these toys as a kid would evolve into a movie about my life. It’s proof that anyone else can do it too.”

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Pierre Lapointe, Grand duke of broken souls

Cotton two-piece by Marni, SSENSE.com / Shirt from personal collection

Photographer Guillaume Boucher / Stylist Florence O. Durand / HMUA: Raphaël Gagnon / Producers: Malik Hinds & Billy Eff / Studio: Allô Studio

Pierre Lapointe, Grand duke of broken souls

Many years ago, while studying theatrical performance at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, Pierre Lapointe was given a peculiar exercise by his teacher. The students were asked to walk from one end of the classroom to the other while observing their peers. Based solely on their gait, posture, and gaze, they had to assign each other certain qualities, a character, or even a profession.

Lapointe remembers being told that there was something princely about him. That was not exactly the term that this young, queer student, freshly emancipated from the Outaouais region and marked by a childhood tinged with near-chronic sadness, would have instinctively chosen for himself. Though he had been unaware of his own regal qualities, he has spent more than 20 years trying to shed this image, one he admits he may have subtly cultivated in his early days.

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