While some artists, including Eminem have taken issue with Weird Al in the past, Pharrell responded differently.
“My manager was having a tough time getting a hold of Pharrell through his representatives,” Yankovic says in an interview with Billboard. “In the meanwhile, I somehow — and I’m not at liberty to say how — got Pharrell’s personal e-mail address and I sent him an e-mail requesting permission, and he could not have been nicer. He sent me a very sweet e-mail back immediately saying he’d be honored. I was just blown away. He was just the sweetest guy.”
Weird Al made “Happy” into a new song, “Tacky.” Recently, the singer released a music video to the track, which features several celebrities, including Jack Black. The video also takes inspiration from Pharrell’s music video for “Happy.”
Weird Al also reimagined Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” as “Handy” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” as “Word Crimes” on the album. Other tracks including Lorde’s “Royals” as “Foil” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” as “Inactive.”
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Yankovic says he was able to do all of the songs he wanted this time around. “It seems like my last few albums have always had some problems around the release, and this is the first time where I’ve gotten everybody that I wanted, and I couldn’t be happier about it,” he says.
In the past, Weird Al has remade several Rap songs, including Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which he remade into “Amish Paradise.”Eminem was one of several acts to also turn down a Weird Al parody.
