Pharrell had hands clapping in the front row on Sunday night when he performed his Oscar-nominated single “Happy,” seen in “Despicable Me 2” and featured on the artist’s latest album, G I R L, released on March 3. A backup chorus of dancers and a group of performing high school students joined him onstage, along with Jamie Foxx and his daughter. Best of all, the seven-time Grammy winner danced his way into the audience, where Oscar nominees Lupita Nyong’o, Amy Adams, and even Meryl Streep made short dance cameos with the star.
2013 was quite the year for Pharrell, who had massive success outside of his hit in “Despicable Me 2.” Early in the year, he collaborated with Daft Punk on hit songs “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance” from Random Access Memories. Pharrell also appeared alongside T.I. on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Finally, “Happy” inspired what Pharrell called “the world’s first 24-hour music video,” with cameo appearances from Jimmy Kimmel, Magic Johnson, Odd Future, Kelly Osbourne, and many others, as the stars danced around Los Angeles while the song played on repeat for 24 hours. For Pharrell, 2014 is already off to a bang-up start, and (who knows?) could top last year’s stand-out success.
Pharrell’s Oscar performance came alongside Karen O and Ezra Koenig’s much softer but equally impressive duet performance of “The Moon Song.”
Here’s the clip of Pharrell’s Oscar act: