Owen Pallett On Daft Punk's "Get Lucky": It "Isn’t Innovative" and "Sounds Off-Balance"

Having recently released an analytical essay on Katy Perry‘s “Teenage Dream,” Canadian musician and Oscar-nominated composer Owen Pallett has now shared his thoughts on French electronic music duo Daft Punk and their 2013 summer hit “Get Lucky.” First addressing the songs “repetitiousness,” by highlighting its repeating four-chord progression and claiming the track has an “ambiguous tonality,” Pallett goes on to suggest that Pharrell‘s vocals and Nile Rodgers‘ guitar features are “photocopied” in a “punkish move.”

There’s a delicious middle finger extended here, beyond the fact that the four-chord loop never alters: Pharrell’s vocal performances, and Nile’s guitar parts, are photocopied. The pre-choruses, the choruses, they are exactly identical, copy-pasted in GarageBand. It’s not even evident that Daft Punk asked its guests to do complete takes. This isn’t innovative, but it is egregious, a punkish move, sending a clear message: “This Is Pop, Where Repetition Is King, And Our Time Is More Valuable Than Yours.”

Pallett also goes on to compare the track to the the work of Daft Punk’s long-time musical friends, Pheonix.

Wrapping up, I’d like to point out a key idiosyncrasy in the text setting of “Get Lucky.” This English-language song, written by French speakers, shares an identical beauty mark with another well-known French confection: Phoenix’s “If I Ever Feel Better.” Already “Get Lucky” sounds like vintage Phoenix—largely because Phoenix’s fabulous first album cribs so heavily from Nile Rodgers—but let me draw your attention to the irresistible abuse of the word good: “We’re up all night for good fun” vs. “Remind me to spend some good time with you.”

To read the essay in full head here, and share your thoughts below.