Will.i.am (12 page)

He returned to Los Angeles even more inspired than
usual and told his bandmates all about his discovery. Together, they continued and deepened the research into the
burgeoning electro scene so they could incorporate it into their own material.

Taboo was not immediately won over by the plan, but Will was insistent. ‘This is the shit that is going to take us to places we have never been,’ Will told him. He then told the rest
of the band that the electro sound was going to do ‘big things’, so it was imperative that they all ‘listen to it, learn it, study it, believe it – and become it’. It
was the most excited he had been for some time, and his bandmates took heed of his words. They had lost count of the number of times that Will’s policy announcements had proved winners.

The result of their immersion in electro was their fifth album,
The E.N.D
. The title has two meanings. First, it was the band’s subtle and mischievous dig at the media, which had
for some years been predicting the band would split – even at one point reporting that it had. To Will’s surprise, the media seemed unable or unwilling to compute the concept that he
could have a solo career at the same time as being fully committed to his band. To them, his solo activity could only mean he was about to jump ship.

He thought the title he chose for the album might ‘cause some controversy’. The initials of the title stood for ‘Energy Never Dies’, a clever inversion of the word they
spelled
out. They worked on the album in London – where they returned to the Metropolis Studios – and Los Angeles. David Guetta produced the album, having had a
curious introduction to Will in Ibiza. While partying in a nightclub, Will was passed a microphone and invited to perform some impromptu rap. Only later did he realize that the man who had passed
him the mic was Guetta, a Frenchman who has been a leading light of the dance scene for decades. He contacted Guetta and invited him to work with the band on their new material.

These were fertile times for the band, and their sessions resulted in a long list of around fifty songs from which to choose for the final cut. Eventually, the track list was cut down to just
fifteen songs, which formed
The E.N.D
., a piece of work that Will himself described as: ‘an album that was about escapism – light on grey matter but heavy on good-time
vibes’.

In no other track on the album – indeed, in no other song ever released by the band – was the good-time vibe stronger than on the one that became their biggest hit, and the song that
is so widely associated with them. It was Guetta who provided the spark that ignited into this monstrously successful party hit. He sent Will a basic beat, which immediately set him into action.
Just over an hour later, Will had developed it into the best part of a song, which
would be called ‘I Gotta Feeling’. Interestingly, as Taboo reveals in his memoir,
at first, the band did not realize what a hit they had on their hands. They loved the song but had no idea how huge it was to become. Will was unabashed about the song’s message, and its part
on the album.

‘It’s dedicated to all the party people out there in the world that want to go out and party,’ he told
Marie Claire
. ‘Mostly every song on The Black Eyed Peas
record is painting a picture of our party life. It was a conscious decision to make this type of record. Times are really hard for a lot of people and you want to give them escape and you want to
make them feel good about life, especially at these low points.’

Another pivotal song on the album was called ‘Boom Boom Pow’, in which the electro influence could be strongly heard. Heavy on beat but light on lyrics, it was an unlikely hit, but a
hit all the same. It only became a single by chance, after a rough version of it was somehow leaked on the Internet. Will decided the best response to the unfortunate leak was to release the song
as a single right away. Although the band had never considered it to be a radio-friendly song, they put it out as a single to see what the reaction would be. Contrary to their assessment, the song
turned out to be hugely popular on the airwaves. It received, in the words of Taboo, ‘humungous’ airplay and sold enough copies to reach number one four weeks after its sudden release.
The
band was stunned that this unfancied song had reached the summit. Imagine their surprise, then, when it stayed there for the best part of three months. It was also a number
one hit in Britain, Canada, Belgium and Australia.

If the band believed this was to be the peak of their success, they were about to be pleasantly surprised. When ‘I Gotta Feeling’ was released, on 16 June, ‘Boom Boom
Pow’ was still enjoying itself at number one. On its release, ‘I Gotta Feeling’ went straight to number two, giving the band their top-two domination. At that stage, only eleven
bands in US chart history had managed that feat, and it had been five years since anyone had pulled it off.

As ‘I Gotta Feeling’ became a favourite among first club-goers and then the wider public, sales rocketed. It replaced ‘Boom Boom Pow’ at number one and stayed there for
eight weeks. This meant that the band had been at the top of the charts with one song or the other for twenty consecutive weeks.

The band was suddenly making chart history. The frenzy around them was becoming ever wilder. When ‘Gotta’ was featured on the opening episode of
The Oprah Winfrey Show
, it
reached an even wider audience. The song was the soundtrack to a spectacular ‘flashmob’ surprise for the show’s host. Some 20,000 people took part in the stunt, on Chicago’s
Magnificent Mile. Will, a friend of Winfrey, was
so proud to have been at the centre of such a memorable opening to the television queen’s new series. The band’s
interaction with the audience, spearheaded as ever by Will’s charisma, took an already remarkable spectacle to new heights. ‘There’s something really special when you take an
audience and, instead of just being passive and watching, you invite them to participate,’ said director Michael Gracey. ‘That’s why it was so magical for both parties. Two groups
of people came together to create something that neither of them could have done alone.’

The band performed the hit song at a number of other prestigious, high-profile events. These included the Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, Florida, and at the Grammys. However, none were as
eye-catching as the Oprah flashmob. Here was a thousands-strong, visual spectacle that defined perfectly the themes of positivity and unity that have been so important to Will throughout his
life.

When
The E.N.D
. was released, this magnificent momentum was maintained. It hit the number-one spot in America and was praised by the critics. This time,
Rolling Stone
was
admiring of the work, and focused on Will in particular. ‘It’s easy to make fun of will.i.am, an LA operator who has become a ubiquitous pop-culture presence, turning up on red carpets
and appearing on CNN in hologram form,’ it wrote. ‘On
The E.N.D
., he does the musical equivalent
of the CNN shtick: doing silly, gratuitous, cool things
with technology just because, you know, it can be done. As often as not the results are dumb. And that’s an awfully good thing.’

Meanwhile,
The Los Angeles Times
focused on ‘I Gotta Feeling’, and stated: ‘It’s impossible to begrudge the high. Yes, the song says, this is a sloppy party. But
it’s one where you’re welcome. So come on in.’ Only the
Independent
sneered, arguing of the album’s songs: ‘to call these slim sketches songs is to bestow a
dignity they don’t deserve’. Will could easily overlook the insult, as once again the wider and truer jury of public opinion was offering an enthusiastic verdict on the album.
The
E.N.D
. was proving to be a new beginning.

Will saw the album as a reflection of the post-album era. ‘It’s a diary ... of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it,’ he said, quoted
on the band’s official website. ‘What is an album when you put twelve songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That’s not an album. There is no album
anymore’.

To which genre did this multigenre ‘diary’ belong? Will described it as ‘a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk,
something like that.’ Whichever name one chose to apply to the rich, multiflavoured smorgasbord that the album served up,
there was no doubting its commercial viability.
While Will’s solo career had, thus far, been a more indulgent project, his Black Eyed Peas manifesto was one that had its eye firmly on the market.

And the market had an eye firmly on the band – intensely so in the cases of some of the band’s more dedicated fans. While in Japan, Will had an encounter with a fan who had paid
close attention to his song ‘Boom Boom Pow’, which he later recounted to
NME
magazine. ‘In Japan this girl comes up and says, “I reckon in ‘Boom Boom
Pow’, you say boom 101 times”.’ Will assumed she was winding him up. ‘I was like, “Yeah, right,” but said, “Thank you so much for listening to the
song.” I got back on the train, counted my booms and she was right,’ he said. ‘She counted all the booms.’

This is just the sort of obsessive attention to detail that Will admires. He had, albeit momentarily, just encountered a fan very much like himself. However, as he and his band’s army of
fans swelled ever wider, there would also be trolls attracted to them for the wrong reason. Will’s band was about to become the target for one of showbiz’s most notorious critics. By
the time their clash was over, things would have become very serious.

There is nothing quite like a celebrity spat to get the public talking. Feuds of the famous are loved by the media and their readers and viewers alike. Will
found himself caught up in one such spat in 2009, when he had a very public falling-out with the flamboyant, opinionated celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton. Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando
Lavandeira, Jr, is no stranger to controversy. He launched a blog, eventually called Perez Hilton, in 2001, the light-hearted wordplay in the title reflecting both his Latino heritage and his
friendship with socialite Paris Hilton. However, while Hilton became a firm supporter of several stars – and a personal friend of some, too – he has also become notorious for his feuds
with some celebrities. His combination of catty posts about celebrities’ appearances and some hard-nosed news revelations have made him a contentious and polarizing figure. Meanwhile, his
notoriety has risen.

Therefore, Will was far from the first famous person to become embroiled in an argument with Hilton. His clash with the blogger was, though, a particularly spectacular one. The problem started
at an after-show party following a music-award show in Toronto. According to Hilton, Fergie had approached him at the party to ask him why he was being so critical of her on his blog. Hilton had
also been dismissive of the band’s latest single.

Hilton’s literary style rarely pulled any punches, so confrontations such as these are not unheard of. However, many celebrities prefer to make their complaints
remotely, or via their representatives. Few are willing to complain directly to their critics. Following this conversation, says Hilton on his website, Will approached him later in the evening and
told him: ‘I need you to never write about my band on your website again.’

Following an exchange of words, Hilton says he was attacked outside the venue. ‘I was in shock,’ said the blogger in a video post. ‘Nothing like this has ever happened
before.’ He accused The Black Eyed Peas’ manager Liborio Molina of the assault. Hilton also tweeted his side of the story, in a dramatic 4 a.m. posting. ‘I was assaulted by
will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.’ On his blog, Hilton claimed that one of Will’s managers had
hit him ‘two or three times’.

Will hit back in a video blog: ‘This is very wrong ... that you are tweeting that I did this,’ he said. ‘Once again, you are disrespecting me [and] all that I stand for.’
He claimed that Hilton shouted at him: ‘You’re not a f**king artist ... you’re a f**king f*ggot.’

Hilton confirmed, in an interview with the Associated Press, that he had indeed used these words. Hilton said: ‘He
was like, “You need to respect me”. He
was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me. I was like, “I don’t need to respect you”. I don’t respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it
would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said, “You know what, I don’t respect you and you’re gay and stop being such a
faggot.”’

Video footage, obtained by the TMZ website, backed up that these words were used and that they proved the inflammatory moment in the incident. In its frame-by-frame analysis of the footage, TMZ
correctly reports that after the ‘faggot’ word was used to describe Will, ‘the scene suddenly turns chaotic – and in the mess someone punches Perez in the face.’

As the war of words continued via the Internet, the media followed the story closely. To clarify the issue at the heart of the dispute, Will stated to Hilton: ‘I didn’t hit you. I
told you that I didn’t like the fact that you disrespected us. It’s cool to have your opinion.’

Hilton, in turn, denied that, saying: ‘I would never make something like this up, or try to use something like this for press, because I don’t need it.’ This reflected the
widespread allegation that, in taking to the internet to complain rather than contacting law-enforcement authorities, Hilton had been more interested in attention. ‘I called the police
BEFORE I Tweeted about it,’ Hilton responded. ‘They were not showing up. I felt helpless.’

As the media and public became ever more entertained by the controversy, American broadcaster Ryan Seacrest involved himself in the dispute, inviting both parties on to his radio show to give
their sides of the story and clear it up. He tweeted: ‘I am sorting thru this drama with perez and will.i.am! Have u heard? Perez need u to call radio show to clear this up. Will caall radio
show [sic].’