Viewers of last night’s Graham Norton Show found themselves aggrieved by one A-List musician’s fashion choices as Pharrell Williams sat down for a chat.
Swinging by the studio along with Billy Crystal and Paddington in Peru stars Emily Mortimer and Hugh Bonneville, Pharrell joined a star-studded line-up on Graham’s sofa.
The Grammy award-winning musician, 51, was in town to promote his new biopic, Piece By Piece.
The animated film tells the story of Pharrell’s rise to fame in Lego form, including the production of his hit 2014 song Smile.
During his chat with Graham, Pharrell opened up about his experiences with synesthesia – a perceptual condition which allows him to ‘see’ different sounds as colours.
However, the star alienated some viewers by donning a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses during his appearance.
Taking to social media as the episode aired, fans shared their frustration at the star’s perceived faux-paus.
‘Why is Pharrell wearing sunglasses on #GrahamNortonShow. I know he’s cool but please..!’ wrote X user MichZiff.
‘Sunglasses – just rude. (Unless he has some medical reason),’ agreed robstowers.
‘Why is he wearing sunglasses? Incredibly bad manners,’ asked captmagenta.
‘Why is pharrell williams wearing sunglasses on graham norton……you’re embarrassing me in front of billy crystal,’ despaired kimwexlcrs.
As the star went on to introduce his new movie, Graham quizzed him over the medical condition synesthesia, which is explained in a clip from the film.
In a clip from Piece By Piece, Pharrell’s narration described what it was like to experience synesthesia as a child.
‘It’s not something that you see with your physical eyes. It’s something that you see in your mind’s eye,’ the star explained.
To illustrate, Pharrell’s Lego brick avatar could be seen entering a vibrant vortex of colours, as sound and music joined as one.
‘This is the way you respond to senses, or your senses work slightly differently?’ Graham asked, back in the studio.
‘Precisely,’ Pharrell clarified. ‘So the most popular one is sound to colour. But there’s all types of synesthesia out there in the world. So basically what synesthesia is, it’s like when we are all born, as like newborns, all of our nerve endings for the senses, they’re basically together.
‘And when you turn one, they prune. And sometimes, they don’t prune all the way. So it’s kind of like a defect, where two of the nerve endings will stay together.’
He continued: ‘For me it was sight and sound. So basically each nerve ending would send ghost images to different parts of your brain. So when I’m hearing sound, I’m also seeing colour.
‘This is not some Albert Einstein savant thing, OK. This is something that happens with a lot of artists, and especially a lot of musicians. It happens all the time,’ he added.
While the Get Lucky hitmaker hasn’t said whether or his choice of accessory is in any way related to the condition, those who do have synesthesia have been known to experience sensory overload – which can be managed by tinted glasses in some cases.
According to Boston University, one in every 5,000 people are affected by the condition – other types of which include being able to ‘taste’ certain words, or ‘see’ colours for different days of the week.
The stylish star – who also runs his own fashion line, named Icecream – is known for his affinity for sunglasses, having even collaborated on his own design with Louis Vitton, so the decision could have been one made purely for style.
He joins a long line of US stars who have showed up to interviews wearing sunglasses; including Zac Efron on The Today Show, and Kevin Hart on the Late Show.
During his time on Graham’s sofa, Pharrell went on to explain how most CEOs and successful businesspeople do so with ‘some form of ADD or ADHD.’
‘So there’s something to be said for people who were born different. I think that which makes you different is what makes you special, and that’s what this film is about.’
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