Robin Thicke says he took credit for 'Blurred Lines' out of jealousy
"Blurred Lines," last year's inescapable song of the summer, propelled singer Robin Thicke to the national stage. But in an April deposition obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Thicke claims — despite his prominent songwriting credit — that he deserves virtually none of the credit for the hit.
"After making six albums that I wrote and produced myself, the biggest hit of my career was produced by somebody else and I was jealous and I wanted some of the credit," said Thicke. "I tried to take credit for it later because [Pharrell Williams] wrote the whole thing pretty much by himself and I was envious of that."
"I was present. Obviously, I sang it. I had to be there," said Thicke, before revealing that he was "high on Vicodin and alcohol" when he arrived at the studio. "But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song."
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"I wish I could take credit for it," added Thicke. "But my new album's great. Wait 'til you hear that one."
That "new album" was Paula, which sold roughly 25,000 first-week copies to Blurred Lines' 177,000.
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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.