Pharrell Williams has spoken out against a federal jury’s ruling that his hit song “Blurred Lines” illegally copied from Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up”.
In 2018, a federal appeals court upheld a controversial copyright infringement verdict against singer Robin Thicke and Williams over the 2013 chart-topper. They were told to pay half of the song’s royalties to Gaye’s family and make a one-off payment of $5.3m (£4m) in damages.
Speaking about the long-winded legal battle, Williams told GQ: “It hurt my feelings because I would never take anything from anyone. And that really set me back.”
After producer Rick Rubin, who took part in the conversation, commented that “Blurred Lines” sounds “nothing like” Gaye’s classic, Williams replied: “Nope. But the feeling was. You can’t copyright a feeling… All salsa songs sound pretty much the same.”
While it was an extremely popular song, “Blurred Lines” was met with a considerable backlash at the time of its release because of its lyrics about sex and consent.
Williams recently said the public’s reaction to the track made him realise we are “living in a chauvinist culture” and said he was “embarrassed” by the attitude towards women expressed in some of his older songs.
