As a Virginia Beach native, Pharrell Williams shares what he loves most about his home state.
Heather Cromartie
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His career as a producer, singer and songwriter may have brought Pharrell Williams global fame, but his upbringing in Virginia continues to be a driving force in his life today.
Born in Virginia Beach, Pharrell graduated from Princess Anne High School, where he collaborated with fellow Neptunes creative force Chad Hugo and wrote and produced songs that continue to be popular today including I’m a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears in 2001 and his own hit from 2003, Frontin.
More recently, in 2019, Pharrell founded the Something in the Water music, arts and culture festival in Virginia Beach where he celebrates his hometown each spring. He is also a partner with the city of Virginia Beach on a multimillion-dollar project at the former convention center to develop a year-round destination named Atlantic Park. Spanning retail, restaurants, apartments, a live entertainment venue and surf park, it’s expected to debut in 2025.
And earlier this year, Louis Vuitton hired Pharrell as its creative director of menswear.
Pharrell recently shared with Penta what he loves most about the state where he was raised and still loves.
Your ideal long weekend in Virginia involves…Definitely family, friends, and food in large amounts. I’m always traveling for work and have experienced many different parts of the world, but coming back to Virginia is always so important to me and my family.
Your favorite place in Virginia and why… The oceanfront of Virginia Beach. I love to just be there and take it all in: the calming waves, the people. It’s a space for everyone and its potential is vast.
The off-the-radar Virginia destination that most people don’t know about is…
The bookstore at the Edgar Cayce A.R.E. [in Virginia Beach]. I can spend hours and hours there. This place would be a gem in any city or state in America, but thanks to Edgar Cayce’s belief in Virginia Beach decades ago, we get to enjoy it today.
The three things you love most about Virginia are… The people, the water, and the location combined create a special kind of energy. It’s almost medicinal to me. The people are wildly creative in a way I haven’t experienced anywhere else in the world. Then you have the water—it’s everywhere. The Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, rivers and waterways that make their way through the state. Location-wise, we are right in the middle of the East Coast. Put these things together, and you have something special. It’s also important to remember and to reflect on how all of these elements make up Virginia’s past.
Your favorite Virginia restaurants… Food is such an important component of any time spent in Virginia. I love to showcase the food here, and a few really step up to collaborate with us during our festival. Restaurants like Commune, Lovesong, the Pink Dinghy, Waterman’s, CLTRE., Session, Three Ships, Terrapin, the Fishin’ Pig, Feather ’n Fin, and Luce have all hosted events with us, catered and more. When I am home, I am definitely eating.
The souvenirs to bring back from Virginia are… anything from WRV, which stands for Wave Riding Vehicles—it’s a skate and surf shop that has been there since I was a kid. Then you have the wide selection of books and rarities from Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. I also love collecting those items you can’t buy or put a price on that represent Virginia. I once asked a firefighter for an official t-shirt to wear on stage.
Surprising facts about Virginia include… Virginia is already a place so well-studied and full of history … so I’ll share some fun stories from me. A few years ago, my team and I went to Tokyo to visit the Sony Corporation. The all-Japanese team at Sony starts their presentation and the very first slide was a picture of Three Ships Coffee on 19th Street in Virginia Beach. We were so blown away by that, and it turns out the Sony team from Japan enjoyed their time at the coffee shop so much that when they came down to Something in the Water, they wanted to host an event there. I also heard a story of a music manager from New York who named his book club the Orange Crush after trying one while at the festival. Virginia exports and traditions reach far and wide.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity