Singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams stars in a documentary about his rise to fame and, strangely, sees everyone portrayed using animated Lego.
But for the creator of the hit ‘Get Lucky’, using Lego figures is an ideal way to translate what’s happening inside his head on screen.
In the documentary called ‘Piece by Piece’, released on November 8, he reveals that he suffers from a neurological condition known as synesthesia.
That means he doesn’t just listen to music, for him the melodies, choruses, and refrains have a textual rainbow of colors.
The medical phenomenon makes people experience one sense through another, from seeing music to tasting words and smelling shapes.
In the documentary called ‘piece by piece’, which will be released on November 8 in the UK, he reveals details of his experience of a neurological condition known as synesthesia that allows him to experience music in colour.
Pharrell explains that he doesn’t just listen to music, for him the melodies, hooks and choruses have a textual rainbow of colors.
In the documentary, he confesses to having been “hypnotized” by music when he was young and remembers “staring into the speaker and seeing these colors.”
“It’s not something you see with your physical eyes, it’s something you see in your mind,” he explains.
“I would just start the record over, and start it over, and do whatever it took to make it happen,” he added.
For him, it not only improves the sound but also the way he writes music.
Previously in 2013 interview On NPR radio, Pharrell explained that seeing colors also helps him recognize if something is in the right shade.
He said, “It’s the only way I can identify what something sounds like.”
‘I know when something is in key because it matches the same color or not. Or it feels different and it doesn’t feel right.’
Previously, in a 2013 interview with NPR radio, Pharrell explained that seeing colors also helps him recognize if something is in the right shade.
Synesthesia is neither a disease nor a disorder, but a rare neurological condition that affects around four percent of people, according to Professor Jamie Ward, a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in synesthesia at the University of Sussex.
‘One sense can trigger another. Music can have colors, shapes and textures and they change dynamically over time. “It’s not just thinking about scenes like countryside or houses, it’s more like seeing a dynamic image of abstract art,” he told MailOnline.
While Pharrell can watch music, more commonly people report that words are tasteful or that numbers are displayed with colors, Professor Ward explains.
For many like Pharrell it is a positive creative stimulant, but some people who experience synesthesia may find it overwhelming, he added.
But it is not considered something that needs to be dealt with and many enjoy perceiving the world differently.
Professor Ward said the prevalence of the condition is highest among people in creative industries, for example musicians and artists; It has also been shown to be hereditary.
In most cases, people are born with it or develop it in early childhood.
The disease causes the brain to combine several senses, explains Professor Ward.
“It changes the way the brain is wired,” he said.
“There are a lot of differences in the brain of someone with synesthesia, but it’s not like having a stroke, where you can see a hole in the brain or something like that.
‘They are simply differences in the wiring pattern in the brain. This allows information to flow and bring things together in an unusual way.’
For example, each of your five senses stimulates a different area of the brain. So looking at a bright color will stimulate the primary visual cortex, at the back of the brain.
But if you have synesthesia, you may also feel like you can “try on” a color.
So not only will the color activate your primary visual cortex, but your parietal lobe will also be stimulated, which tells you what something tastes like.
There are several types of synesthesia, but you can have it if you notice strange involuntary crossovers between your senses.
You can “taste” certain words or “see” the colors of the days of the week.
There may also be consistency in their sensory triggers and they may become predictable, for example always matching a certain word with the same color.
It is also common for people with synesthesia to be able to describe their unusual perceptions to others.
A similar phenomenon, known as autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, involves physical sensations triggered by hearing or seeing certain things.