After being initially premiered on Apple Music as part of their big launch last month, Pharrell has at last released the music video to his new single "Freedom" to the general public via YouTube. More serious than "Happy" but no less inspiring, Pharrell's "Freedom" video lets the singer liberate the world. The video follows Pharrell as he teleports around the world to various groups of people who are trapped in their situations and then, as we watch over the course of the video, they slowly free themselves from their trappings, either physical or emotional.
Pharrell helps people in factories, mines and in their everyday lives try to escape what has been haunting them, while also mixing in some absolutely stunning nature shots from around the world.
The Paul Hunter-directed video also includes a Lego reenactment of the Tiananmen Square massacre and a black and white clip of Muhammad Ali getting ready for a fight.
You can watch the "Freedom" video below and get it on iTunes here.
"Freedom" was initially premiered at Glastonbury, strategically right before the launch of Apple Music and recorded live with the intention of being put online to create extra buzz for the song and subsequently for the new streaming service.
The single is the first original piece of music we have heard from Pharrell in quite some time as he has been working hard producing other people's records over the past year or so.
When the track came out on June 30, Pharrell spoke to Zane Lowe on Beats 1 about the song and the experience of premiering it at Glastonbury.
Listen, we all afterwards were kind of teary-eyed because the energy of the crowd was so big, and it was so strong," Pharrell told Beats 1 (via Rolling Stone). "It was like the wind - you see the effects of it, but you couldn't see it. You just felt it, because it just blew through you and blew past you."
