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"Double Life"
"Double Life"
Single by Pharrell Williams
Released	June 14, 2024
Length	3:10
Label	Back Lot; Columbia; I Am Other;
Songwriter(s)	Pharrell Williams
Producer(s)	Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams singles chronology
Music video
	"Double Life" on YouTube

"Double Life" is a diss track written, produced, and performed by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams. Originally previewed on Williams's YouTube channel on May 8, the song was released by Columbia Records as a single for the soundtrack of the film Despicable Me 4 on June 14, 2024.

An orchestral song, it was met with generally positive reviews. Many critics and listeners perceived the track to be aimed towards rapper Drake, and highlighted the unusual placing yet fitting incorporation of the song into the Despicable Me 4 soundtrack.

Release

On May 8, 2024, Williams previewed a 30-second snippet of the song's bridge on his YouTube channel.^[1]^[2] On June 14, 2024, Williams officially released the full song as a single ahead of its appearance in the film Despicable Me 4.^[3]

Critical reception

Writing for Uproxx, Derrick Rossignol observed that "the tune isn't as general and movie-agnostic as something like 'Happy'". He praised the song's groove and especially its refrain about Gru, calling it "actually catchy as hell". He concluded, "This probably won’t be a world-changing single like "Happy", but it’s in the upper tier of kids movie soundtrack fare".^[4] Michael Saponara said in Billboard, "it's easy to imagine "Double Life" and the catchy chorus cooked up by Pharrell finding its way into Gru’s adventures".^[3]

Writing for Rolling Stone, Larisha Paul noted the prominent bassline in the song, and assessed that it has "a bit of a menacing and existential edge".^[2] Tom Breihan writes for Stereogum, "[The song] isn’t about being happy, which means it’s probably not going to be another "Happy". Instead, it's about keeping secrets, which is just as universal but which makes it less appropriate for heavy birthday-party rotation. It seems fine? I don’t know." He mentioned Williams's previous music for the franchise, bemoaning the potential for the song to see popularity among the film's younger audience.^[5]

Many critics and listeners interpreted the song as a diss track towards Canadian rapper Drake, with whom Williams has had prior, as-of-then unspoken-of conflicts. HotNewHipHop's Danilo Castro pointed out Williams's friendship with Drake's rival Pusha T, and singling out the bars "Lie detector time", "Hey, what are you hiding?", and "Nothin' wrong bein' private... Make sure it ain't wrong" as being a direct retaliation against Drake. Castro furthermore commented it was "wild" having a diss track appear in the soundtrack for a children's movie.^[6] Ahmad Davis of Rap-Up observed the same possible intent, noting the history between the two. Davis highlighted Drake's purchase of several of Williams's jewelry items and gold PlayStation Portable at an estate sale, and his subsequent mention of the purchases in his 2024 diss track "Family Matters", similarly noting the lyrical content as an indirect jab at Drake as a response to earlier remarks by the rapper.^[7] Complex's Jaelani Turner-Williams recalled the two's past disagreements, calling back to Drake's initial provocations towards Williams on Travis Scott's "Meltdown" in 2023, and how Williams had as-of-yet not directly addressed their conflict. He pointed out that noted rival Kendrick Lamar has appeared in Williams's Lego biopic film Piece by Piece (2024).^[8]

Credits and personnel

Adapted from YouTube.^[1]

Musicians

Pharrell Williams – vocals, writing
Mark Graham – conductor
Shelly Berg – performance arranger
Steve Dress – bass
Chris Kollgaard – bass
Geoff Osika – bass
Mike Valerio – bass
Rose Corrigan – bassoon
Anthony Parnther – bassoon
Jacob Braun – cello
Giovanna Clayton – cello
Vanessa Freebairn-Smith – cello
Ross Gasworth – cello
Paula Hochhalter – cello
Dennis Karmazyn – cello
Armen Ksajikian – cello
Ben Lash – cello
Stuart Clark – clarinet
Sal Lozano – clarinet
Brent Paschke – electric guitar
Laura Brenes – horn
Katie Faraudo – horn
Dylan Hart – horn
Ben Jaber – horn
Adedeji Ogunfolu – horn
Teag Reaves – horn
Sean Franz – oboe
Jessica Pearlman – oboe
Wade Cullbreath – percussion
Brian Kilgore – percussion
Craig Gosnell – trombone
Alex Iles – trombone
Andrew Martin – trombone
Steve Trapani – trombone
Wayne Bergeron – trumpet
Jon Lewis – trumpet
Dan Rosenboom – trumpet
Rob Schaer – trumpet
Blake Cooper – tuba
Doug Tornquist – tuba
Rita Andrade – viola
Rob Brophy – viola
Meredith Crawford – viola
Andrew Duckles – viola
Alma Fernandez – viola
Drew Forde – viola
Tom Lea – viola
Shawn Mann – viola
Luke Maurer – viola
Erik Rynearson – viola
Dave Walther – viola
Rodney Wirtz – viola
Eun-Mee Ahn – violin
Charlie Bisharat – violin
Paul Cartwright – violin
Bruce Dukov – violin
Molly Goldbaum – violin
Wynton Grant – violin
Jessica Guideri – violin
Tamara Hatwan – violin
Luanna Homzy – violin
Benjamin Jacobson – violin
Ana Landauer – violin
Songa Lee – violin
Natalie Leggett – violin
Phillip Levy – violin
Maya Magub – violin
Stephanie Matthews – violin
Helen Nightengale – violin
Grace Oh – violin
Alyssa Park – violin
Katie Sloan – violin
Tereza Stanislaw – violin
Ina Veli – violin
Shalini Vijayan – violin
Maia Jasper-White – violin

Technical personnel

Pharrell Williams – production
Bryce Bordone – engineer
Randy Merrill – mastering engineer
Serban Ghenea – mixing engineer
Mike Larson – recording engineer
Alan Meyerson – recording engineer
Ali Khazaee - Cover Art

Charts

Chart performance for "Double Life"
Chart (2024)	Peak position
Australia Hip Hop/R&B (ARIA)^[9]	23
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)^[10]	68
Global 200 (Billboard)^[11]	190
Ireland (IRMA)^[12]	52
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)^[13]	27
UK Singles (OCC)^[14]	56
US Billboard Hot 100^[15]	89