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" Having dominated 2013 with three of the year&amp;#039;s biggest hits, Pharrell&amp;#039;s star has arguably never shined brighter during his 15 years in the biz. So in demand is he that his second solo album - which arrives eight years after his so-so debut In My Mind - has been brought forward from its original May release date. And as the LP&amp;#039;s inescapable lead single &amp;#039;Happy&amp;#039; demonstrates, after years lost in the musical wilderness working with the likes of Mika, Gloria Estefan and Conor Maynard, he&amp;#039;s finally found his groove again.  The Motown-funk sound that dominates most of G I R L was always going to be a given after the success of &amp;#039;Get Lucky&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;Blurred Lines&amp;#039;, but what is surprising is its lyrical content, which is celebratory of women&amp;#039;s power and sexuality, unlike his Robin Thicke collaboration.  Artwork that looks as if he&amp;#039;s towelling off from a steamy foursome aside, &amp;#039;Marilyn Monroe&amp;#039; opens with a rush of romantic strings and hears him admitting to being a &amp;quot;hopeless romantic&amp;quot; and in search of a &amp;quot;different girl&amp;quot; as unique as history&amp;#039;s female icons. Even on &amp;#039;Gush&amp;#039;, where he sings about wanting to &amp;quot;light that ass on fire&amp;quot;, he&amp;#039;s at least polite enough to make his intentions explicitly clear from the off.  Musically, G I R L can feel a little samey at times (a similar Nile Rodgers-esque guitar riff features on roughly half of the songs), but given he&amp;#039;s mostly working within the confines of R&amp;amp;B-funk, there&amp;#039;s enough variation to keep things interesting. Immediate standout &amp;#039;Brand New&amp;#039; is a kitchen sink full of brass, bongo drums, piano and handclaps that bounce off Pharrell&amp;#039;s and guest singer Justin Timberlake&amp;#039;s interweaving falsetto, while &amp;#039;Lost Queen&amp;#039; nods to the hip-hop minimalism of his early productions before veering towards a slinky if not slightly meandering finale. Unsurprisingly, he&amp;#039;s lined up the best of his many, many contacts for collaborations, including Miley Cyrus on &amp;#039;Come Get It Babe&amp;#039;, where she provides backing vocals over a mashup of country-flecked guitars and schoolyard handclap chants. Daft Punk make a typically understated appearance on the gloriously uplifting and futuristic &amp;#039;Gust Of Wind&amp;#039;, while Alicia Keys&amp;#039;s generous contribution on the reggae-tinged &amp;#039;I Know Who You Are&amp;#039; is a welcome curveball. Fortunately, such big names never manage to overshadow the presence of Pharrell, whose radiating passion and positivity is the real star of the show.    Download: &amp;#039;Marilyn Monroe&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Brand New&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Come Get It Babe&amp;#039; If you like this, you&amp;#039;ll like: Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Daft Punk Watch Pharrell&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Happy&amp;#039; video below:       "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/album-reviews/review/a554613/pharrell-williams-g-i-r-l-album-review-uplifting-rb-funk/>