"Get Lucky" is a song written and performed by French electronic music duo Daft Punk featuring American musicians Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers. Daft Punk released the song as the lead single from their fourth and final studio album, Random Access Memories, on 19 April 2013. Before its release as a single, "Get Lucky" was featured in television advertisements broadcast during Saturday Night Live, after which Rodgers and Williams announced their involvement in the track. "Get Lucky" is a house-inspired disco, funk, and pop track with lyrics that, according to Williams, are about the good fortune of connecting with someone, as well as sexual chemistry. "Get Lucky" has since received acclaim from critics, with a number of them praising Williams's vocals and Rodgers's guitar riffs.
The song reached number one in several countries, including Daft Punk's native France, where the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) certified it diamond. "Get Lucky" peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks, giving Daft Punk their first top-10 hit in the United States. In the UK, the single topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and was the second best-selling single of 2013 with 1,308,007 copies sold. The song won multiple awards, including Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Daft Punk performed it on many television programmes and awards shows, including the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, during which Stevie Wonder joined Rodgers, Williams and Daft Punk onstage to perform the song.
Background
Daft Punk first met American guitarist Nile Rodgers at a listening party in New York City for the duo's 1997 debut album Homework, and became friends thereafter. However, Rodgers noted that a series of near misses and scheduling conflicts had delayed their chance of collaborating. The duo eventually invited him to the Random Access Memories sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
American singer Pharrell Williams was interested in working with Daft Punk; he had first heard about the project from Daft Punk at one of Madonna's parties, and offered his services for a collaboration. He had joked that, "If you just want me to play tambourine, I'll do it." The duo and Williams later met in Paris, where he shared some of his own material; Williams explained that he had been inspired by Rodgers without knowing that Daft Punk had coincidentally been recording with him. As a member of The Neptunes production team, Williams had previously provided a remix of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" that appeared on the 2003 album Daft Club. Daft Punk also served as co-writers and producers for the 2010 single "Hypnotize U" by N.E.R.D., Williams's band.
Production
"Get Lucky" was completed in approximately 18 months. Prior to Rodgers's involvement, the song existed in a rough form that centered on a Wurlitzer electronic piano. After listening to Daft Punk's demo of what would become "Get Lucky", Rodgers asked that all of the elements except the drum track be muted so that he could create a suitable guitar part; he recalled that he experimented until the duo were visibly pleased. Once Rodgers finished, Daft Punk had Nathan East re-record the bass part to fit Rodgers's performance. Rodgers further elaborated: "Everybody else wound up re-playing to me." Mixer and engineer Mick Guzauski recalled that the rhythm guitar fit easily into the production: "I experimented with balancing and other positioning, and working other stuff around it. He didn’t have to be processed – Nile just sounded great the way he is." The song as it appears on the album also features a synthesizer by Daft Punk, keyboards by Chris Caswell and additional guitar performed by Paul Jackson, Jr.
Williams noted that the duo adopted a perfectionist approach when recording the vocals for "Get Lucky", as he was asked to perform several takes and multiple instances of specific phrases. He also said that when he returned to the United States after recording his vocals, he had "forgotten everything" regarding the composition of "Get Lucky". He attributed it to jet lag, but jokingly wondered if Daft Punk had tampered with his memory. The duo responded, saying that Williams's lyrics and performance had arisen spontaneously, and was likely the reason he had trouble recalling the song.