Something in the Water was created after Virginia Beach officials asked for help, Pharrell says in new video

If you were one of the 200,000 people estimated to have visited the Oceanfront last year for Something in the Water, you already know it was a weekend full of love and infectious joy.

Somehow, in about half the time it generally takes to plan an event of its scale, Pharrell Williams and his team created a glorious cultural experience for locals and visitors. It’s because, at the heart of Pharrell’s endeavor, one emotion drove his vision: empathy.

In a masterclass video for LeBron James' SpringHill media company, Virginia Beach’s most visible native reveals the details behind creating the overwhelmingly successful music and culture festival and why it took place in his hometown.

Pharrell says in 2018, Virginia Beach’s chief of police, James Cervera, came to him and said the city had a problem. What the chief was referring to, Pharrell says in the video, was the last weekend in April which is historically known as College Beach Weekend. Each year, thousands of visitors — many of whom are Black college students — pour into the tourist city.

It’s a weekend many locals have categorized as troublesome, despite crime data from the city’s police department demonstrating otherwise.

“Every year for, you know, 20-plus years, HBCU students would come and spend their spring break there before they have to do their exams. And there’s a lot of violence and, like, crime and stuff that was happening around those events. And so, they wanted to know how we could fix the situation and would I be willing to come down and talk to the City Council about it,” Pharrell says in the video.

The chief admitted to Pharrell that the crime stemmed from locals, not the visiting students.

In response, Pharrell identifies two key issues the city must deal with — violence and racism.

“The second problem is one that you guys have been ignoring. In our region, we have the reputation of being racist and not allowing people of color and minorities to have a good time,” he says.

When Pharrell pitched creating a festival on the beach, he said officials initially worried it would draw even more visitors.

“That’s the point,” Pharrell says.

A music festival would give locals and visitors something fun and positive to do together, something that would make obvious that they’re more alike than they are different.

“Maybe we can change the temperature of what is the racial tension here,” he says, but it would “never work if we didn’t involve the community.”

He was right.

As part of the festival, Pharrell worked with local schools, hosted a slew of free events and organized a daylong church service on the beach that drew thousands. He included conversations about technology, education and kindness into the lineup of events. Something in the Water was quickly dubbed as one of the summer’s must-attend festivals.

Before it all went down, community town halls gave locals a place to voice their concerns and take part in the process.

As a result, for the first College Beach Weekend maybe ever, all was peaceful at the Oceanfront.

“I think when you use empathy as the No. 1 tool, it helps other people who are involved in the process, whatever it is, feel included, helps them feel heard. It’s like a universal ping to let them know that you know they exist, that their concerns exist, their way of looking at things exist. Metaphorically speaking I think that Something in the Water was, for us, for Virginians, that was us looking into the water for the first time and seeing who we were and it was good for everyone.”

Amy Poulter, 757-446-2705, amy.poulter@pilotonline.com

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