Pharrell Williams Talks Women and Pink Liquor

If you’ve followed Pharrell Williams for some time or read up on any of his interviews through the years, you’ve seen an individual and artist develop over time into a deeply introspective and visionary type persona. For his recent interview with Bullett Media‘s Jada Yuan, Williams opens up quite an eloquent dialogue in which he delves into such things as his appreciation for women, his new pink liquor, “Qream” (also an all-but-subtle nod to the women in his life), as well as his various accolades, projects and endeavors from past to present. The incredibly well-written piece expounds on Pharrell Williams the artist to paint a decidedly more personal picture of a man who is less of an attention seeker and more a compliment giver. Less caught up in the spotlight, and more focused on theoretical questions about life, creativity and existence. Read a snippet from the interview below and check out the entire feature and pictorial from photographer, Tim Barber, from the Bullett Media website.

Williams likes to tell the story of how he lost his virginity at 16 to an older woman. “I didn’t lose it,” he clarifies. “I gave it away. I know exactly where it is.” He’s had a lifelong fascination with older women, he says, “because I used to look at my teachers. There were several high school teachers I wanted to have my way with.” He didn’t actually get with them, but says, “I mean, that would have been awesome.” He did, however, find other older women to suit his particular desires. “I had fun with those really good cougars, dude. They had that quiet purr that you just feel.” He likens his time with these women to Ralph Macchio’s training sequences in The Karate Kid. “That kid didn’t feel like washing the car, but he had no idea that was going to protect him one day. A lot of it, I was like, So this is how you play chess? Okay, cool, let’s go to bed. I didn’t know they’d teach me how to treat women, but they did. They taught me how to talk to girls, how to speak to them, like a specific language.”

If he could give younger guys one bit of advice, it would be: “If you kiss her mind, her body will follow.” Growing up, he says, “I made so many mistakes. I messed things up so badly, just by being young and growing up so fast. I’ve since learned a lot about pacing, not just with women, but also in life in general.” This doesn’t mean, however, that he thinks guys should hold off on sex. “I applaud those who have the willpower to do it. But I’m a different kind of kid.” Instead of seeing sex as sacred, perhaps we should hold “time as the ultimate sacred thing.” He wants to know if I have silly, arbitrary rules about how many dates to wait for sex (I don’t), or if I’ve ever had “a one-off thing with someone and forgot the dude’s name” (I have). “Mistakes are lessons,” he says, with a warm, accepting smile. “I don’t think there are too many things that you regret, outside of your own judgment.” What women regret about having sex with a guy on the second date who never calls her again is not the time frame, but sleeping with someone who isn’t worthy. Then again, you could wait two years to have sex, only to find out he’s a cheat. “It’s like buying a big, awful, distasteful home. You might have 30,000 square feet, but it’s shit. You have terrible doorknobs. The windows are 20 years old. It’s not how much, it’s how great. Quality over quantity. Life is fleeting. You can always have sex again.” I leave, head reeling, with a sudden urge to clean my apartment.