Humanz is the fifth studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 28 April 2017 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by the band, The Twilite Tone, and Remi Kabaka Jr., it was Gorillaz' first studio album in seven years, after The Fall (2010).
Recorded in various locations such as London, Paris, Chicago, New York City and Jamaica throughout late 2015 and 2016, the album features political themes inspired by the "dark future" in which Donald TrumpW won the 2016 US presidential electionW (which was considered a remote possibility at the time of recording). Musically, the album boasts a diverse range of guest artists, including Vince Staples, Peven Everett, Popcaan, De La Soul, Danny Brown, Grace Jones, DRAM, Mavis Staples, Pusha T, Jamie Principle, Kali Uchis, Jehnny Beth and Benjamin Clementine.
Nine singles were released from the album: Saturnz Barz, We Got The Power, Ascension, Andromeda, Let Me Out, The Apprentice, Strobelite, Garage Palace and Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special).
Background
Following the poor performance of the Escape To Plastic Beach World Tour and the release of The Fall, rumours began to circulate that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett had fallen out and that this had caused the band to split. The magazine PeopleW subsequently reported that this was true.[1] However, representatives for the band later denied the rumours in a statement to PitchforkW.[2] On 23 February 2012, Gorillaz released a single featuring James Murphy and André 3000, titled DoYaThing, commissioned by Converse for their "Three Artists, One Song" campaign. In April 2012, Damon told The GuardianW that he and Jamie had fallen out and that future Gorillaz projects were "unlikely", citing Jamie's dissatisfaction that the visual side of the band had become less central to it and its performances.[3] However, in a later interview on 25 April 2012, Damon was more optimistic about the future of Gorillaz, saying that once he had resolved his differences with Jamie, he was sure that they would make another record.[4] In June 2013, Jamie confirmed that he and Damon intended to continue with Gorillaz at some point and record a follow-up to Plastic Beach, stating, "We'll come back to it when the time is right."[5]
Jamie revealed, it was at the afterparty for a gig in support of Damon's debut solo album, Everyday Robots, that they decided to bring Gorillaz back, saying: "…we were at a party afterwards. We'd had a bit to drink, and he said, 'Do you want to do another one?' And I said, 'Do you?' and he said, 'Do you?' And I said, 'Yeah, sure.' I started work on it straight away, learning to draw the characters again. I played around by myself for eight months while he was performing with Blur in 2015."[6] In October 2014, Damon was said to be "in the process of reactivating Gorillaz for a 2016 release."[7] On 30 January 2015, Jamie posted new drawings of Murdoc and Noodle on his Instagram profile and responded to a fan's query by stating, "Yes, Gorillaz returns."[8][9] In July 2015, while promoting the Australian leg of Blur's tour in support of their eighth studio album, The Magic Whip, Damon told ABC NewsW that he would start "recording in September for a new Gorillaz record".[10]
Recording
Damon and The Twilite Tone working in studio
Prior to the studio recording, Damon used iPad applications such as GarageBandW to create the framework for each song in late 2015. He had first used his iPad as an audio workstation for The Fall, praising its convenience over the 4-track recorder he had previously used for preliminary music production. Humanz began recording in 2016, shortly after Stephen Sedgwick, head engineer at Studio 13, finished working on the soundtrack for Damon's musical Wonder.landW.[11] On Humanz, Damon deliberately chose not to use acoustic instruments in order to evoke a futuristic sound.[12]
For the producer role Damon employed Chicago native Anthony Khan AKA The Twilite Tone, who was first approached by Parlophone chairman Miles LeonardW. Damon and Tone contacted each other via Skype while Damon was in Mali. The two hit it off immediately, and in February 2016, Tone was flown to London to visit Studio 13, where he ended up staying for two weeks. He then came over for a month and eventually remained in London for most of 2016. Humanz also marks Remi Kabaka Jr.'s debut as a permanent producer for the band, following 15 years as the voice of Russel Hobbs.[11]
When conceptualising the album, Damon and Tone envisaged Humanz as the soundtrack to "a party for the end of the world". Damon specifically imagined a future in which Donald TrumpW won the 2016 US presidential electionW to provide context for the album's narrative.[11][13] As recording of Humanz began well before Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, let alone the presidency, many still considered the possibility of a Trump presidency remote; Pusha T, who is featured on the single Let Me Out and recorded his contribution in early 2016, later commented on Damon's inadvertent foresight: "I wrote from the perspective of this day, I was writing from the perspective of a Trump win. When this really happened, I was like 'Wait a minute, what type of crystal ball did this guy have? Why are you even asking me to think along these lines?' I don't think he thought that [Trump] would win, I'm not gonna go that far, but he definitely conceptualized this whole thing."[14]
Stephen Sedgwick and Murdoc at Geejam Studios, August 2016
In an interview with Q magazine, Damon revealed that he had approached a number of artists to collaborate with him on the record, many of whom turned him down. These included English musician MorrisseyW, singer SadeW, American rapper Rick RossW, and singer Dionne WarwickW — who had previously declined to collaborate with Damon on Demon Days and was unwilling to do so this time, as she felt that some of the lyrics conflicted with her religious views.[13] The group had also recorded with Erykah BaduW, with whom Damon had previously worked on Africa Express and Rocket Juice And The Moon.[15] In an interview with Billboard, Damon admitted that some of his choices of collaborators for the album were influenced by his daughter Missy's taste in music.[16]
Release
On 20 September 2016, Gorillaz reformatted their social media and started a series of recaps on the band's history.[17] They also overhauled their website, laying to rest the Plastic Beach-era iteration which had been left untouched since DoYaThing's release. Throughout October 2016, the band also released a series of visual stories through their socials, titled The Book Of Gorillaz, which recounted the exploits of Noodle, Russel, Murdoc and 2-D from where they were left off after Plastic Beach.
On 19 January 2017, to coincide with Donald TrumpW's inauguration dayW, Gorillaz uploaded the music video for the non-commercial single Hallelujah Money to the official UPROXXW YouTube channel.
On 6 March, Gorillaz announced that they would be headlining their own festival, Demon Dayz, which took place on 10 June at the Dreamland amusement park in Margate, England. Admission to the park and its rides was free, and the festival was also broadcast live via Red Bull TVW. Tickets went on sale at 9 am on 10 March and sold out within hours.[18] The festival was later revealed to feature a number of collaborators from the album, as well as other musicians who have influenced the band, including Vince Staples, De La Soul, FufanuW, Danny Brown, Little Simz, Kali Uchis, Popcaan and Kilo Kish.[19]
On 19 March, the tracks Saturnz Barz, Andromeda, Busted And Blue, Charger and Submission were leaked online, after Reddit user omegapro200 searched for Saturnz Barz on Google and found a password-protected VimeoW video titled "04 Saturnz Barz Demo 04.03", which had been uploaded by Dylan Byrne, the band's touring lighting technician. After a short while, user mrmoosechill cracked the password (which was "2017") and the leak spread. Soon after, the band took notice and Byrne's Vimeo account was deleted.[20]
Gorillaz' performance at Printworks, London, 24 March 2017
At 7:30 pm UK time on 23 March, the band revealed the album's title and track listing, before premiering four new songs across various radio stations: the previously leaked Saturnz Barz and Andromeda on BBC Radio 1W, Ascension on Beats 1W, and We Got The Power on Radio XW.[21] All four songs were made available to stream by 8 pm (with album pre-order), and a music video for Saturnz Barz, featuring 2D and 360° virtual reality versions, was released in partnership with YouTube. The following day, Gorillaz performed a secret live concert at London's Printworks nightclubW, where they premiered the album in full.[22][23] Parts of the show were professionally filmed and livestreamed on their Facebook page before being uploaded to YouTube.
The fifth single, Let Me Out, was released on 6 April, accompanied the next day by remixes of the previous four singles by Bonobo, Banx & Ranx, Nic Fanciulli and Claptone.
On 10 April, a Gorillaz-themed augmented reality app was released in collaboration with Electronic Beats, with whom Gorillaz partnered back in March. The app allowed users to interact with the band members, listen to their playlists and tour their new HQ, the Spirit House. Ten days later, the band announced that the app would be used to host the "Humanz House Party", a global listening event billed as the "largest ever geo-specific listening experience", which took place from 21 to 23 April, a week before the album's release, allowing fans to be among the first to hear the new album in full.[24] At around the same time, Jamie revealed to Q magazine that a 10-episode Gorillaz TV series was in development.[13] However, it ultimately never saw the light of day.
On 17 April, the Humanz Tour was announced, featuring concerts across Europe, Asia, North and South America. A copy of the album was included with each ticket purchased. The sixth single, The Apprentice, was released on 24 April, having premiered on BBC Radio 1.
Strobelite was released as the seventh single on 10 August, with a music video released three days later. Garage Palace, the eighth single, was released on 31 October to promote the "Super Deluxe" box set edition of the album, released on 3 November, which included 14 additional tracks. The final single, Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special), was released on 1 December in response to Gorillaz' GrammyW nominations for "Best Dance RecordingW" for the original version of Andromeda and "Best Alternative Music AlbumW" for Humanz.[25]
Reception
Upon its release, Humanz peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums ChartW and the US Billboard 200W, and reached the top 10 in 23 other countries. Over 140,000 copies of the album were sold in its first week after release. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its energetic tone and political themes. However, some criticised the abundance of guest artists, arguing that this resulted in a bloated track list and reduced the presence of Damon's vocals. In response to this criticism, Gorillaz released the non-album single Sleeping Powder on 8 June. On 28 November, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music AlbumW at the 60th Annual Grammy AwardsW, but lost to Sleep Well BeastW by American rock band The NationalW.[26] On 5 January 2018, it was certified Gold by the British Phonographic IndustryW.[27]
Track listing
The tracklist for the standard edition was leaked on 17 March 2017,[28] ahead of its official reveal on 23 March. The standard edition of the album contains twenty tracks, five of which are interludes (narrated by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn), while the deluxe edition has six bonus tracks, one of which is an additional sixth interlude.
Standard Edition
| CD, Vinyl & Streaming | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | 'Intro: I Switched My Robot Off' | 0:24 | ||||||||
| 2. | 'Ascension' (feat. Vince Staples) | 2:35 | ||||||||
| 3. | 'Strobelite' (feat. Peven Everett) | 4:32 | ||||||||
| 4. | 'Saturnz Barz' (feat. Popcaan) | 3:01 | ||||||||
| 5. | 'Momentz' (feat. De La Soul) | 3:16 | ||||||||
| 6. | 'Interlude: The Non-Conformist Oath' | 0:21 | ||||||||
| 7. | 'Submission' (feat. Danny Brown & Kelela) | 3:21 | ||||||||
| 8. | 'Charger' (feat. Grace Jones) | 3:34 | ||||||||
| 9. | 'Interlude: Elevator Going Up' | 0:04 | ||||||||
| 10. | 'Andromeda' (feat. DRAM) | 3:17 | ||||||||
| 11. | 'Busted And Blue' | 4:37 | ||||||||
| 12. | 'Interlude: Talk Radio' | 0:19 | ||||||||
| 13. | 'Carnival' (feat. Anthony Hamilton) | 2:15 | ||||||||
| 14. | 'Let Me Out' (feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T) | 2:55 | ||||||||
| 15. | 'Interlude: Penthouse' | 0:11 | ||||||||
| 16. | 'Sex Murder Party' (feat. Jamie Principle & Zebra Katz) | 4:19 | ||||||||
| 17. | 'She's My Collar' (feat. Kali Uchis) | 3:29 | ||||||||
| 18. | 'Interlude: The Elephant' | 0:11 | ||||||||
| 19. | 'Hallelujah Money' (feat. Benjamin Clementine) | 4:23 | ||||||||
| 20. | 'We Got The Power' (feat. Jehnny Beth) | 2:19 | ||||||||
Total length: |
49:23 | |||||||||
| Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | 'Interlude: New World' | 1:22 | ||||||||
| 2. | 'The Apprentice' (feat. Rag’n’Bone Man, Zebra Katz & Ray BLK) | 3:56 | ||||||||
| 3. | 'Halfway To The Halfway House' (feat. Peven Everett) | 3:57 | ||||||||
| 4. | 'Out Of Body' (feat. Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz & Imani Vonshà) | 3:45 | ||||||||
| 5. | 'Ticker Tape' (feat. Carly Simon & Kali Uchis) | 4:28 | ||||||||
| 6. | 'Circle Of Friendz' (feat. Brandon Markell Holmes) | 2:08 | ||||||||
Total length: |
19:36 | |||||||||
| Japanese Deluxe Edition bonus tracks | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 21. | 'Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special)' (feat. DRAM) | 4:00 | ||||||||
| 22. | 'Busted And Blue (Faia Younan Special)' (feat. Faia Younan) | 3:40 | ||||||||
Total length: |
56:53 | |||||||||
Super Deluxe
| Super Deluxe Edition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | 'Intro: I Switched My Robot Off' | 0:24 | ||||||||
| 2. | 'Ascension' (feat. Vince Staples) | 2:35 | ||||||||
| 3. | 'Long Beach' | 3:23 | ||||||||
| 4. | 'Strobelite' (feat. Peven Everett) | 4:32 | ||||||||
| 5. | 'Colombians' | 3:57 | ||||||||
| 6. | 'Saturnz Barz' (feat. Popcaan) | 3:01 | ||||||||
| 7. | 'Duetz' | 2:43 | ||||||||
| 8. | 'Momentz' (feat. De La Soul) | 3:16 | ||||||||
| 9. | 'Midnite Float' (feat. Azekel) | 3:57 | ||||||||
| 10. | 'Interlude: The Non-Conformist Oath' | 0:21 | ||||||||
| 11. | 'Submission' (feat. Danny Brown and Kelela) | 3:21 | ||||||||
| 12. | 'Grilling With His Face' | 2:15 | ||||||||
| 13. | 'Charger' (feat. Grace Jones) | 3:34 | ||||||||
| 14. | 'Charger (Alternate Version)' (feat. Pauline Black) | 2:57 | ||||||||
| 15. | 'Interlude: Elevator Going Up' | 0:04 | ||||||||
| 16. | 'Andromeda' (feat. DRAM) | 3:17 | ||||||||
| 17. | 'Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special)' (feat. DRAM) | 4:00 | ||||||||
| 18. | 'Busted And Blue' | 4:37 | ||||||||
| 19. | 'Busted And Blue (Faia Younan Special)' (feat. Faia Younan) | 3:40 | ||||||||
| 20. | 'Interlude: Talk Radio' | 0:19 | ||||||||
| 21. | 'Carnival' (feat. Anthony Hamilton) | 2:15 | ||||||||
| 22. | 'Carnival (2D Special)' (feat. Anthony Hamilton) | 3:49 | ||||||||
| 23. | 'Let Me Out' (feat. Mavis Staples and Pusha T) | 2:55 | ||||||||
| 24. | 'Five Whales In A Dream' | 2:37 | ||||||||
| 25. | 'Interlude: Penthouse' | 0:11 | ||||||||
| 26. | 'Sex Murder Party' (feat. Jamie Principle and Zebra Katz) | 4:19 | ||||||||
| 27. | 'Garage Palace' (feat. Little Simz) | 2:30 | ||||||||
| 28. | 'She's My Collar' (feat. Kali Uchis) | 3:29 | ||||||||
| 29. | 'She's My Collar (Kali Uchis Spanish Special)' (feat. Kali Uchis) | 2:50 | ||||||||
| 30. | 'Interlude: The Elephant' | 0:11 | ||||||||
| 31. | 'Hallelujah Money' (feat. Benjamin Clementine) | 4:23 | ||||||||
| 32. | 'Phoenix On The Hill' (feat. Sidiki Diabaté) | 3:22 | ||||||||
| 33. | 'We Got the Power' (feat. Jehnny Beth) | 2:19 | ||||||||
| 34. | 'Tranzformer' | 2:40 | ||||||||
Total length: |
94:03 | |||||||||
Sample credits
- "Intro: I Switched My Robot Off" contains a sample of Space Shuttle DiscoveryW during launch sequence.
- "Saturnz Barz" contains an uncredited sample of the instructional voice-over of Interactive Planetarium by Scientific Toys Limited.
- "Interlude: The Non-Conformist Oath" contains a sample of "A Wild and Crazy Guy" as written and performed by Steve MartinW from his album A Wild and Crazy GuyW.
- "Submission" contains a sample of "Your LoveW" as written by Jose Gomez, Francis Nicholls, Jamie Principle and Mark Trollan and performed by Jamie Principle featuring Adrienne Jett.
- "Carnival (2-D Special)" contains a sample of "Breathless" as written by Blaxx and Roy CapeW.
Personnel
Gorillaz
- Murdoc Niccals - bass guitar
- Stuart Pot - vocals
- Russel Hobbs - drums
- Noodle - guitar, additional vocals
Musicians
- Damon Albarn - vocals, synthesizers, drums, keyboards, programming, guitar
- Remi Kabaka Jr. - drum programming, percussion (all tracks), drums (Garage Palace)
- Ben Mendelsohn - narration (tracks 1, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, Interlude: New World)
- Vince Staples - vocals (Ascension)
- The Humanz - choir (tracks 2-5, 7, 14, 19, deluxe tracks 3-4, Circle of Friendz)
- Rasul A-Salaam
- Starr Busby
- Melanie J-B Charles
- Drea D'Nur
- Giovanni James
- Marcus Anthony Johnson
- Janelle Kroll
- Imani Vonzhà - vocals (Out of Body)
- Brandon Markell Holmes - additional vocals (Circle of Friendz)
- Peven Everett - vocals, additional keyboards (Strobelite, Halfway to the Halfway House)
- Popcaan - vocals (Saturnz Barz)
- De La Soul - vocals (Momentz)
- Azekel - additional vocals (Momentz, Midnite Float, Submission)
- Jean-Michel Jarre - synthesizers (Momentz, Midnite Float, We Got the Power, Halfway to the Halfway House)
- The Twilite Tone - drums (Midnite Float, Charger (Alternate Version), Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special), Carnival (2D Special), Five Whales in a Dream, She's My Collar (Kali Uchis Spanish Special)), synthesizers (Midnite Float, Charger (Alternate Version)), bass (Midnite Float, Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special), Carnival (2-D Special), Five Whales in a Dream), drum programming (Charger (Alternate Version))
- Kelela - vocals (Submission), additional vocals (Busted and Blue)
- Danny Brown - vocals (Submission)
- Graham Coxon - guitars (Submission)
- Grace Jones - vocals (Charger)
- Pauline Black - vocals (Charger (Alternate Version))
- DRAM - vocals (Andromeda, Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special)), additional vocals (We Got the Power)
- Roses Gabor - additional vocals (Andromeda, Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special))
- Cheick Tidiane-Seck - additional synthesizers (Andromeda (D.R.A.M. Special), Ticker Tape)
- Faia Younan - vocals (Busted and Blue (Faia Younan Special))
- Anthony Hamilton - vocals (Carnival, Carnival (2-D Special))
- Mavis Staples - vocals (Let Me Out)
- Pusha T - vocals (Let Me Out)
- Jamie Principle - vocals (Sex Murder Party)
- Zebra Katz - vocals (Sex Murder Party, The Apprentice, Out of Body)
- Little Simz - vocals (Garage Palace)
- Kali Uchis - vocals (She's My Collar, She's My Collar (Kali Uchis Spanish Special), Ticker Tape)
- Benjamin Clementine - vocals (Hallelujah Money)
- Sidiki Diabaté - vocals, kora (Phoenix on the Hill)
- Jehnny Beth - vocals (We Got the Power)
- Noel Gallagher - additional vocals (We Got the Power)
- Rag'n'Bone Man - vocals (The Apprentice)
- Ray BLK - vocals (The Apprentice)
- Kilo Kish - vocals (Out of Body)
- Carly Simon - vocals (Ticker Tape)
Technical
- Damon Albarn - production
- Remi Kabaka Jr. - production
- The Twilite Tone - production
- Stephen Sedgwick - mixing, engineering
- John Davis - mastering
- Samuel Egglenton - assistance (tracks 2-5, 7, 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-20), additional engineering (Charger)
- Fraser T. Smith - production consulting (all tracks), additional production (The Apprentice)
- Michael Law Thomas - additional engineering (Ascension, Out of Body)
- KT Pipal - assistance (2-5, 7-8, 17, 19, The Apprentice, Halfway to the Halfway House, Out of Body, Ticker Tape, Circle of Friendz)
- Casey Cuyao - assistance (Ascension)
- John Foyle - engineering (Long Beach)
- Morgan Garcia - additional engineering (Momentz)
- J.U.S. - additional engineering (Submission)
- Paul Bailey - additional engineering (Let Me Out)
- Alex Baez - assistance (Let Me Out)
- Jonathan Lackey - assistance (Let Me Out)
- Manon Grandjean - assistance (The Apprentice)
Artwork
- Jamie Hewlett - artwork, design
- LuckyMe Studios - assistance art
Release Information
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Catalog # | Label | Chart position(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK / EU | 28 April 2017 | CD | 0190295851200 | Parlophone / Warner Music | #2 (UK) |
| Ltd Double CD "Deluxe" | 0190295851170 | ||||
| Double Vinyl | 0190295851194 | ||||
| Ltd Double Vinyl "Deluxe" | 0190295851187 | ||||
| 3 November 2017 | Ltd 14LP Box Set "Super Deluxe" | 0190295818845 | |||
| US | 28 April 2017 | CD | 560256-2 | Warner Bros. Records / Warner Music | |
| Ltd Double CD "Deluxe" | 560257-2 | ||||
| 24 November 2017 | Ltd RSD Black Friday Double Vinyl | 563488-1 | |||
| Japan | 24 May 2017 | Ltd Double CD "Deluxe" | WPCR-17835-6 | Warner Music Japan | #32 |
| 28 April 2017 | CD Promo Sampler | PCD-1079 | |||
| Australia | CD "Deluxe" | 9029585117 | Warner Music Australia | #4 | |
| Russia | CD | 9029582796 | Warner Music Russia | N/A | |
| Worldwide | Download / Stream | N/A | Parlophone / Warner Music | ||
| Download / Stream "Deluxe" |
Gallery
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| The full image gallery for Humanz may be viewed at Humanz/Gallery. |
Trivia
- Because the members have been most likely modeled off of real musicians for their realistic depictions on the album cover, there has been continued speculation in regards to who they were modeled after. The four most widely agreed upon ones include Beck for 2-D, BjörkW for Noodle, The Notorious B.I.G.W for Russel, and Noel Gallagher for Murdoc.
- Alternate depictions include Jack WhiteW or David BowieW for 2-D, CeeLo GreenW for Russel and Keith RichardsW for Murdoc.
- Despite this, these are just entirely speculation and have not been directly confirmed or debunked by any of the Gorillaz team.
- Alternate depictions include Jack WhiteW or David BowieW for 2-D, CeeLo GreenW for Russel and Keith RichardsW for Murdoc.
- The album was originally going to be titled Transformerz, but Missy dissuaded them, insisting that it would be confused with the film series of the same nameW.[29]
- Humanz coincidentally released one day before Donald TrumpW's 100th day in office.[30]
References
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