Pharrell may be the go-to guy if you’re looking for a hit song, but he’s probably also the guy to go to if you’re looking for a potential Academy Award winning song, too. After the Despicable Me 2 track, “Happy,” nearly got Pharrell the award for Best Original Song, it’s only logical that he’d head back to the drawing board to see which original tracks he can cook up for another movie next. His newest venture comes in the form of the song, “Runnin’,” for the upcoming film, Hidden Figures.

Pharrell actually contributes two songs to the movie – one solo track in “Runnin’” and then a duet with Lalah Hathaway in “Surrender.” Both songs have some similarities between each other with a retro throwback feel, but that makes sense given the time period that the movie takes place in. Hidden Figures, which releases on December 25th,...