15 May 2014
Though not credited on ‘Sing’ as an artist, Pharrell’s prominence in its audio and video for its sole week at number one in May 2014 effectively gives him a total of 22 weeks at the top of the Irish singles chart on four different tracks in little over a year, seemingly unscathed after the ‘Blurred Lines’ mess. He was now keeping more wholesome company than a mindless cartoon evildoer, or a Minion.
And, surprising as it would seem at the time, Pharrell hasn’t had a number one in Ireland since ‘Sing’; so ends our Pharrell era. What’s more interesting is how, for the purposes of this site, it introduces the era of Ed Sheeran, who has had many number ones in Ireland since ‘Sing’. He’ll also almost break the Irish charts so that they had to change the rules.
Even though Ed already had hit songs and albums, it’s fair to suggest that the Pharrell phactor is what gave him the decisive broad-based crossover push to make this his first chart-topping single in the UK and Ireland. By the same token, though, as a Timberlake-style (Timberlike?) R&B-pop track ‘Sing’ is not representative of the high Ed Sheeran style that’ll dominate our charts in short order. Could that be why I enjoy it? The vibe is energetic, the groove is funky, the chorus is catchy, and Sheeran comes across as witty and fun rather than the maudlin busker of other hits. He’ll revisit this sort of pop smarts with ‘Bad Habits’ and ‘Shivers’, but unfortunately we’ve a lot of maudlin busking to wade through before that – plus ‘Galway Girl’.
