While debates around Blurred Lines continue, and Happy and Get Lucky endure to be played time and time again to the point where you might never stop hearing their annoyingly catchy hooks, Pharrell Williams has released a new video for his song Come And Get It Bae. Featuring Miley Cyrus, it’s a tremendously produced frisky, thumpy soul-clap banger and, guess what? The video features loads of women. It's funny that, in years gone by, we wouldn't think of Pharrell as that creepy (even after N_E_R*D's Lapdance video, because that was political, right?) but now, even with this attempt to be all 'I love women, I'm smiling at women, women are dancing for me and I'm grinning at them' there's still an edge of creepiness to it. Here are some questions you might be asking about the video, and our very erudite answers.
1. Is Miley really in it for that long?
Most of her sequences are in slow-mo, so actually she might not have spent a lot of time on set at all. She’s also got – shock, horror – clothes on in this video, and quite natty ones at that.
2. What is this ‘bae’ anyway?
You might think it’s a ‘babe’ with the ‘b’ missing, and in some ways it is, but it also doubles up as the acronym for ‘before anyone else’ which is pretty cute, isn’t it?
3. How many baes does Pharrell have?
Oh, see, though he has a wife IRL, he’s got loads of baes in the video. He is very adoring of all of them, though, smiling at them as they dance and twerk in front of mirrors for him as he films with an 8mm camera (because nothing says good old reliable cute Pharrell like a camera from yesteryear).
4. Is the penthouse loft where the video was shot the same place where Oprah Winfrey interviewed Pharrell and he cried?
No, but we like remembering that moment.
5. Who are Pharrell’s baes?
Lots of women of different ages and ethnicities and body shapes. The thing that unites the baes, though, is that they’re all really happy to be there and they like twerking.
6. How does he look so young?
By prancing about and wearing silly hats, obviously! Or maybe it’s just that youth is a way of life, as big glaring capitals in the opening of the video spell out: ‘Beauty Has No Expiration Date’.
7. Is it this year’s Blurred Lines?
Not quite, because the women have clothes on. But he does chase them about a lot, so...
8. Is that Lindsay Lohan at 1.24?
No, but the resemblance is uncanny, we’ll admit.
9. Are Miley’s loom-band hair adornments the first instance of a loom band in a music video?
Very possibly. We quite like that this is what a young audience will be looking at when checking out the video. We like the arts and craftiness of loom bands, it's very Kirstie Allsopp.
10. Is it creepy?
Somehow, yes.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.