Pharrell may be one of the most successful men in music and fashion today, but his working life didn’t get off to the best start. Long before he became a multi-platinum producer and a creative director at one of the world’s most prestigious fashion brands, the “Happy” hitmaker was working shifts at McDonald’s — although not very successfully.
“McDonald’s [was] my first and only job,” he said in an interview with BBC Radio 2 while reflecting on his journey. “I got fired three times. I was eating the chicken nuggets! I found the sweet and sour sauce and the chicken nugget an alchemical combination. It got me in trouble. “The first two times it was just because I was lazy. The third time was kinda like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? You’re just sitting there eating nuggets.’ I was one of those kids, I just liked flavors. So I would have sweet and sour in one and in the other one I would have ranch, and I would just go back and forth.” Despite his lackadaisical attitude in the kitchen, Pharrell would later help create the fast food giant’s iconic “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle alongside Justin Timberlake, Clipse, his Neptunes production partner Chad Hugo and others in the early 2000s. Looking back on the creation of the song during a recent appearance on Hot Ones, the 51-year-old said: “I thought it was ironic and I thought it was very funny. They brought that [catchphrase] to us and asked us to make a song out of it. I mean, I didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘Oh, I got an idea for McDonald’s: da da da da da, I’m lovin’ it!'” Pusha T’s involvement in the jingle wasn’t revealed until 2016, although he later admitted regret over accepting a one-time fee instead of royalties.
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“I took a super L with that. Just upfront, [no publishing]. About half a mil,” he said on Drink Champs in 2018. “Shout out to Steve Stoute, he gave me the check and I was like, ‘Ahh great!’ It happened early. “I want artists to know that part. Keep your publishing, man. That check will be nice but ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ been running for how long now? I did it in, what, ’03? Who knows what it would’ve been.” Timberlake has also reportedly never received any publishing income from the song, instead accepting a one-time $6 million payment to sing the lyrics.