The first single from Daft Punk's fourth studio album Random Access Memories features American rapper and record producer Pharrell Williams on vocals and studio legend Nile Rodgers of disco pioneers Chic on guitar. Speaking to Rolling Stone about his work on the French duo's record, Nile Rodgers said: "About a year ago, I get a knock on the door - first a virtual one and then a real knock - from Guy-Manuel and Thomas. The collaboration felt so unbelievably natural that it made me realise that I need to be in the studio with people. I love partnering with people. And then from that moment, a windfall of recording started happening. I just started going in with whomever I could."
The Random Access Memories official website features a video series called The Collaborators. Speaking on one of the clips, Pharrell explained that he originally met with the Daft Punk duo during a Madonna party. He offered his services and availability for the project, adding sarcastically, "If you just want me to play a tambourine, I'll do it." Once Pharrell had met up in Paris with the French pair, he showed them some of his own material he had been working on that coincidentally was inspired by Rodgers, unaware they had already recorded a track featuring the Chic founder member. Pharrell said, "It's crazy, because, you know, [we're] on two sides of the Atlantic, [and] we're in the same place." It was in these sessions in Paris that the American rapper-producer laid down the vocals for this song.
The song broke Spotify streaming records on the day of its release. It achieved the highest number of streams on the Swedish online music site in 24 hours in both the UK and US. British band Bastille's single "Pompeii" previously held the record in the UK and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' track "Thrift Shop" in the US.
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