Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams teamed up for the touching track “Glory,”
which was released shortly after the birth of Blue Ivy Carter. But according to Skateboard P, the song was entirely premeditated. During an interview with MTV News on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, the Neptunes producer said that it was a nod to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” and intended to commemorate the moment.
“It was something we had planned before it happened, so we were basically waiting,” he said. “That was like our nod and homage to when Stevie [Wonder] did it for his baby, Asia [on ‘Isn’t She Lovely’]. And we weren’t trying to make the same song at all, it was like we wanted to capture a moment in time to commemorate the birth of his baby. I did the same thing with [my baby] Rocket, I’m just more quiet and private about my life.”
Pharrell noted that Hov and Beyonce are constantly in the public eye, so it was important for him to make this sort of statement about his child.
“But he and his beautiful wife, they live a different lifestyle and for him it was important for him to stop everything that he had going on and just sort of make statement to his baby and his wife,” he said. “I was honored to be a filmmaker for that beat.”
